The Lotus and The Clover
by Our Brightest Stars
Summary: She can't forget, not when "this" contrasted so sharply from "that" which had been lost in flood, hovering like a vengeful demon.Understanding it, the superheros & magic that seemed to be the norm in this archaic military-state;she didn't consider it something to be grasped, just accepted. They're her family now, strange as they are, & she adores them.(SI. AU:You will see no canon)
1. Luck of the Draw

_It's in the luck of the draw, baby.  
The natural law.  
Forget those movies you saw, little baby._  
 _It's in the luck of the draw._

\- Luck of the Draw, Bonnie Raitt (1991).

* * *

"English, what our main character speaks."

 _"Chinese, what everyone else speaks, unless stated otherwise."_

'Thoughts.'

* * *

 **Note: Each elemental nation has it's own personal language. For the common tongue, the language is vaguely similar to Mandarin Chinese except archaic in its usage. Also, much like in Quebec, Canada; where children learn both Canadian French as well as English, so do the children in the Land of Fire learn the pseudo-Japanese and pseudo-Chinese. This is in part because of the founding clans; the Senju** **(Shen-Yu)** **is Chinese in origin and the Uchiha is Japanese in origin.**

 **For the Land of Fire, the national language is Japanese, but if speaking formally at work/on-duty or to strangers or just in serious situations so there can be no mistake of the meaning, Chinese is the default.**

 **Eventually, when our main character starts speaking the languages more, Chinese will be** this **, and Japanese will be** _this_ **.**

* * *

 **Day One.**

* * *

When I first became Aware, I was pretty disorientated and not completely present. It was like waking up from a long, half-remembered dream that faded away with each passing second until you couldn't remember it at all, leaving confusion and lingering exhaustion. I took in everything around me with a sort of distant interest, as if looking through a window or a screen.

Green filled my vision until my eyes focused on what was right in front of my nose. It took a moment to register what it was, a four-leaf clover. 'Aren't those things supposed to be lucky?', I wondered haltingly, mind stuttering and thoughts disjointed. Clumsily reaching out, missing it at first and then nearly crushing it when I sluggishly dragged my hand closer to my face where the clover was, I plucking it. Absently twirling it between my thumb and fore-finger, green tinged my fingers, as my vision came in and out of focus. I eventually closed my eyes to rest then for a moment to gather my bearings.

A cool breeze blew across the clearing, making the clover wave slightly in my fingers' clutches and me shiver, chilled to the bone, despite the breeze being somewhat warm. I was completely soaked to the bone and lay there on the grass, tired and utterly listless. I didn't want to do anything but lie there. My thoughts spun on in lazy circles, much like a hawk would in the muggy summer air as it hunted.

Instead of lowly prey, though, I trying to rally my memories and sort through them. Everything was fuzzy, more than anything else, the only thing I was absolutely certain of was that I had been dead — _was_ dead. Tenses were a bit blurry at the moment, extremely unsure and ambiguous. A feeling told me that they had been both correct when concerning me at one point, much like Schrodinger's cat. But exact tenses didn't exactly matter as much as the underlying cause behind them. Of how they came to be.

It took awhile for the memory to finally reappear from the black abyss. It brought images of churning murky waters and long red hair disappearing into the depths, of stormy skies and the sparking of lights —

 ** _It was the End, the end of everything. The flood that came and washed everything away, washed us all away._**

— I'm alone now. The realization hit me like a bolt of lightning; my eyes snapping open looking frantically about for someone that wasn't there. My sister was nowhere in sight. Something felt so very wrong. Nothing felt right, my surrounding were strange and my body felt weird. Scratch that, everything felt weird, a pervading sense of _wrongness_. It coated the very air I breathed —

 ** _Like you don't belong here. Like you shouldn't exist._**

— but the trouble was that everything looked normal despite being unfamiliar; everything _should have been_ normal. I was flabbergasted, completely puzzled at my growing feeling of unease. 'But it isn't normal, I _know_ it's not normal; so what's missing? What's wrong? What's _different_?'

I held my hand in front of my face, staring at it, hoping to find answers, but not expecting any. My analytical mind picking up all the little details. Its paleness from the cold and previous ill-health. The dainty looking fingers, long and thin like a pianist's. Faint traces of colored polish on the short nails, but most of it's gone at this point. The wrinkles were... I paused.

My thoughts stormed forward upon noticing the difference, the _wrongness. '_ There are fewer wrinkles on my hands than there were before. Speaking of my hands, they are smaller, tiny, actually. My feet are smaller too.' I heaved myself up with a groan to sit properly and immediately noticed _more_ of the differences. Mainly me being so much closer to the ground than I should be and my shirt being far too big as well as discolored from the water —

 ** _The water…_**

— a memory sprung up, unbidden, _unwanted_ —

 _ **The water which rose up so quickly around us, leaving my sister and I no time to** **—**_

"Stop!" I screamed, the sudden noise slamming into the memory and disrupting it for a moment, for a split-second. It was all I needed, a distraction, somewhat hysterically I mumbled to myself, "Assets, assets, what are my assets?"

 _One shirt._  
 _One four-leaf clover._  
 _One smaller-than-last-checked body._  
 _And no idea what went wrong or what to do..._

"Ugh, so much for that," I huffed before snarking to myself with biting sarcasm. "I'm cold and might be dying of hypothermia, and not much I can do about it, greeeeat." Not to mention the fact I was already dead. Possibly. Maybe. Probably.

I took off my drenched shirt, setting it down on top of the grass. I completely flattened and straightened out for the sun can dry it off before laying back down myself, hoping that sunbathing might help. Actually, it's so warm out here, it would pretty hard for me to die of hypothermia in this weather. After a moment's pause, I rolled in the grass, hoping it would help with my drying process. It didn't do much of anything, except to make some blades of greenery stick to awkward places.

I took a deep breath of air, laboring slightly. It was hard to breathe, the air was heavier than usual, almost as if it was humid. Was it summer still? I had thought it was starting to head into autumn...? Then again, maybe not. It might've warmed up slightly, God knows that the weather had been absolutely insane during these past few days. Who's to say that it couldn't have gotten at least thirty degrees warmer? A sunny and hot seventy to the bleak and brisk forty? It wasn't impossible.

I wheezed a little, choking on the heavy air. I got worried and more than a little apprehensive. I didn't have my inhaler on me. I could really do without an asthma attack, thank you. I rolled onto my side, so that I could breathe easier. Removing the bits of grass, I took a critical eye to my bare body.

I had to be a child.

I didn't appear to be too awfully young, but it was hard to tell the exact age. I couldn't have been older than three and I couldn't have been younger than one. I couldn't be older than a three-year-old, because my body wasn't quite proportioned like one yet, my limbs had yet to lengthen and lose their stubbiness. Plus, my motor skills weren't very experienced. I couldn't be younger than a one-year-old, because most of the baby fat had diminished; however, that might've been because I hadn't eaten any real food for days… I assumed I was old enough to walk.

I tested this by standing up with only a little bit of difficulty, stretching my legs as I gazed around me. I was in a clearing, a fair-sized one that might have stretched a mile or two, surrounded by trees. The only body of water in the vicinity was a modest pond which I eyed warily. It didn't swell, rise, or flood, so I relaxed slightly.

I was afraid of it, afraid of the pond. Well, not so much the pond itself, but the water _in_ the pond. I was terrified of it, which was a strange and hard concept for me to swallow. I had always loved water, swimming in it, ice skating on it, floating on top of it. Water had always been a part of my life... _and death._

 ** _Freezing, stinging, going over my head —_ our _heads — as it continued on its destructive path, raging and roaring._**

Trembling, I collapsed to my knees, my breath coming and going with frantic little gasps and pants as my heartbeat accelerated to that of a cornered mouse. Memories started to flood — to _engulf_ — my thoughts, until it was the only thing I could think of, the only thing I was aware of. They were pervading my senses so completely, so entirely, I wasn't completely sure what was real and what wasn't.

I covered my ears to drown — to _muffle_ — the sound of the deadly, murdering waters. It's not enough.

 _It's not enough!_

I press my hands so tightly against my ears that my head started to hurt and my knuckles turned white.

 _Still, I can hear its maddening, deadening sound!_

I scream.

 _I can't stop._

I just scream and scream and scream.

 _Water forcing its way down my throat, choking, gagging, gasping._ Pain.

I bite my arm. The skin is a vicious, angry red around my teeth. The screaming is dying away, choked by the warm and salty tears rolling down my face.

 _Her hand, which had clasped so tightly with mine, went slack in its death-grip with my hand. Without its help in keeping our hands together, the current easily ripped us apart like so much wet paper._

The tears wouldn't stop; they kept falling onto my skin with its sickly pallor. Sobs from deep within me wracked my small frame. The screaming was replace with little keening sounds as I started to rock back and forth. My mind was swept of all its logic and reason, there was only the repeating, chanting thought of, _She's gone. She's gone. She's_ gone _._

Bile crept up my throat, and I dry heaved. I had nothing left in my stomach, except for the hard to swallow pill of reality and the cold stones of bitter grief. I felt like my heart had become this strange black hole, causing this heavy, burdensome weight in my chest, making my world seem to crash around me.

 _For the first time in a long time, I wanted my mom._

I wanted her to hold me, hold me like I was a little girl, scared from the creatures under the bed and hiding in the closet. I missed so badly, a deep primal longing that made me want to run, to fight, just to be at her side again. As it was, not even my sister was here to attempt to distract me from —

Oh Dear _God_ , my _sister_. My friend who I chose to be my sister and me, hers. Sisters who were sisters because it was more than friendship or anything so mundane as blood. Self-proclaimed, adopted, selected, the exact words didn't matter, the result was the same, something special. Something wonderful and untouched by society's dirty fingers, not contorted into something else because _they_ couldn't understand.

 **And it was gone. I had messed up. I made the wrong choice.**

"I'm sorry," I sobbed miserably, curling into the fetal position on the ground and remaining that way for an unmarked amount of time. I thought with a bitterness about how the rest of the world was able to continue to live on and move and grow and change around me while I remained unmoved, trapped in my grief.

 _How could the sun still shine?  
The world still turn?  
Everything still exist?  
...How could I still survive?_

I damned myself for that last thought, for my selfishness, but I knew that what was done was done and that there wasn't anything I could do about it... _She_ would be already up and moving, trying to find a way to survive, to find civilization, and find a way to be assured of her continued survival until the next day... That's how I wish that _she_ would've acted if our positions had been switched. That didn't make it any easier, though. I cried until I couldn't cry anymore, snot dripping down into my trembling mouth before I wiped it away with the back of my hand. My eyes puffy and sore, head throbbing from the stress.

I checked my shirt. It was still damp, but I wore it anyway. Assets update:

 _Plus:  
One broken heart.  
And one new phobia._

'What else had changed? Am I still the same?' My attention, unbidden, wandered over towards the pond. I got up and haltingly walked towards it. My new, inexperienced limbs were not the only cause of my faltering steps.

I hated it.

I hated it so, _so_ very much, but I needed to know.

I sat by the pond and looked into the water. It wasn't stagnate — _it was probably fed by a small stream that I couldn't see_ — so it was clear, transparent, and contained no algae. However, I couldn't see my face very clearly as it was becoming dark outside and my shadow got in the way. From what I could tell, though, my white hair had stayed white and remained the same length as before. My chapped lips cracked a brief smile at the memory of my long hair catching on fire and consequently having to be shaved bald to treat the third-degree burns. I was just lucky that my hair had grown back at all, even if it was no longer its beautiful, blonde color that I had gotten from Mom.

I couldn't see what color my eyes were, but I assumed that they were still blue in color. All in all, I think still mostly looked the same as before the End, just younger. I wondered if I still had all my scars that I had collected over the years. I checked, but found myself puzzled when the scars I had memories of were gone. None of them were there anymore, but instead replaced with others that I couldn't recognize or remember. The implications were unsettling.

It was so... so _strange_. Why would my hair still be colorless and not go back to its natural color while all my scars pull a disappearing act only to be replaced with others?

Even just ignoring that, I was _young_ again, my body returned back to my two-year-old body — _my closest guess to my age, a happy medium_ — and therefore back to my two-year-old problems. I had been in the hospital a few times _already_ by the time I was this age, and my asthma was only one of the reasons I was there, but certainly not the least…

I stayed there beside the pond, beside meaning a good two yards away from the edge of the water, and I looked into its depths, watching small fish dart around. I listened to the birds call to each other, the frogs ribbit, and the insects make their noises. The sun started to dip lower and lower, the twilight quickly becoming night.

The shirt was no longer adequate for shielding me from the elements. I was cold again, sensitive to the cooler temperatures, even though I've lived in a northern region all my life. I was too chilled to be comfortable but still warm enough to where I haven't started to shiver yet, a disgruntling limbo.

I didn't sleep that night.

* * *

 **Day Two.**

* * *

When I first saw him, fear quickly caught me in its irrational talons, startled screams catching and canceling each other out in my throat from their panicked need to leave my mouth. Scenes from horror movies began to play in my head. I thought of Jason when I saw that mask, even though they looked nothing alike.

For one thing, it wasn't a hockey mask. It was a plain white mask, carved and painted to look something like a dog. For another thing, this guy didn't have a bloody weapon and appeared to be unarmed. Still, I crawled away from him backwards, doing the crab walk, as he started to walk towards me. He put up his hands in the gesture of peace meant to put me at ease and slowed his stride to small, measured steps. The man then uttered something in a placating tone — in a language that I couldn't understand, _"Hey there, it's all right, I won't hurt you."_

Surprise stilled my movements. I had assumed that I was still in the general area of home, the rural-ness of it all certainly had a hand in this, and it hadn't occurred to me that, that might not be the case. Soon, he was right in front of me, crouching down to my level and continued to talk in a way meant to soothe and comfort. I bit my lip as he stopped talking in a manner that seemed to suggest that he was politely waiting for me answer.

I had nothing to give him, I couldn't understand the question.

He asked again in that same, weird, alien language of his, _"Are you hurt?"_

Still, he did not receive an answer from me.

After a long pause, the dog-masked man seemed to realize that he wasn't going to get one. Slowly, he offered his hand with gentle, soft-spoken syllables, _"Come here."_

It looked like he wanted to have a handshake with me. I stared at the appendage, nonplussed at the seemingly random gesture. He repated himself, saying, " _Come here, don't be shy_."

Habit soon kicked in and I placed my hand in his, expecting to attempt to exchange names with Mr. "Guòlái Ya" in the call of common decency. In fact, I couldn't be sure if that was even his name and not something else.

Instead of shaking my hand, he gently pulled me into a standing position, picked me up in one of his arms, held me close to his body, and wrapped me so I was snug and warm underneath his cloak. Clutching me protectively close to his chest, he started to run. I had limited vision from my spot under the cloak, but I felt the man first start to sprint and then he jumped.

When I say 'jump,' I don't mean that he did a tiny, little bounce, I mean, like, a full-on _leap_. He bounded, _flying_ up into the air! I counted almost two full seconds before he landed again. These bounds were at fast speeds and, I assume, over long distances.

And, _oh_ , did I mention the tiny, little tidbit of information that we were leaping from _tree to tree hundreds of feet up in the air?_ No? Well, it must've _slipped_ my mind as I _gripped to Dog-man's dark, silver-grey armored vest for dear life_ , because I most certainly _did not_ fancy becoming _strawberry jam_.

Dog-man started to talk, I could feel the vibrations from his voice through his chest, but I got the feeling that he wasn't speaking to me. _"Wolverine, was there anyone else in the vicinity?"_

If I listened closely, I could hear another voice answer in response, _"No, there was not. What did...who did you find?"_

 _"A child, young and by itself, either can't talk or doesn't want to... I also suspect that it might be Aoko's."_

 _"…What should we do?"_

 _"I will drop by the hospital before joining you at the Hokage-Zhǔxí's office for further instructions on how this should be dealt with."_

I'm sure their conversation was terribly interesting, but really? We were _leaping_ , in _trees_ , _hundreds of feet off the ground_! I don't think that this was the best place to have _scintillating_ conversations in foreign languages! What did they think they were? Old, twenty-first century, comic-book heroes?

The _masks_ and the _armor_ and the _cloaks_ and the _freakish ability to seemingly bound over tall-building-esque trees_... It all seemed a bit much and I didn't really know how to handle it, let alone why this people were even able to do what they were doing. The laws of physics I had been taught in school and the reality I known for my whole life up until this point seemed moot. Without any explanations available to me, I had to reluctantly that the how's and why's just weren't important anymore. That I needed to only know about the who's, what's, and when's at the moment. For example:

 _Who are these people?  
What was going to happen?  
What was I going to do?  
And when could I escape?_

Those were some good questions that needed some satisfactory answers. Only one major problem stood in my path: I could not understand a word anyone was saying and, chances were, if I did try to talk, they wouldn't be able to understand me either. I only had tone of voice, body language, and my gut feelings to help me guess what was happening around me. If I had to guess, I would say that Dog-man and his friend, Mr. Badger, were distressed.

Well, more like they were confused, anxious, wary, tense, and any other similar synonyms that would probably fit that I couldn't think of at the moment. They were also in a hurry, if you couldn't already tell. They didn't say much after their brief exchange of words in the beginning of my trip with the two of them.

As time went on, however, I grew suspicious, wondering if they were actually supervillains instead of superheroes, which would be just my luck. They didn't feel evil, though. They _seemed_ like nice guys, unless they had alter-egos or something. I don't think I will ever be able to see them as the bad guys, since they rescued a random child, read: _me_. That might just be my naïveté talking, though.

By the time I had made a decision — _I had eventually decided that they were, in fact, superheroes_ — we passed by some military-looking people guarding a hidden gate that led to what looked like a huge city. They didn't protest or panic when Dog-man and Mr. Badger landed next to them briefly before quickly leaping past, they just nodded in acknowledgement. Dog-man and Mr. Badger stopped on a roof near by the gate and had a hurried conversation:

 _"What would you like me to say to Hokage-Zhǔxí, Dog?"_

 _"Exactly what happened, of course, and that I will be returning briefly after dropping off the subject of the new issue."_

Then they split up — me with Dog-man, and Mr. Badger was by himself. Where Mr. Badger was off to in such a hurry, I have no idea. Dog-man seemed to be in an equal amount of hurry as his masked friend. What really surprised me was that none of the villagers seemed to notice or care that a guy in a mask and suspicious-looking cloak was leaping from rooftop to rooftop. I was even more surprised when I saw that Dog-man and Mr. Badger weren't the only superheroes. There were other people doing parkour-esque leaps on rooftops. The only difference was that most of these people weren't wearing masks. Were they superheroes too or did everyone have superpowers?

My brain started to hurt from all my hard thinking. And you know what? The answer or explanation to all of this didn't come any more readily than it would have if I didn't try to think at all.

My and Dog-man's destination was a large, white building and — _unlike most of the normal people there_ — we made our entrance through the window instead of strolling through the front door. No one said anything either, which was the most surprising thing of all. Well, that might've just been because they were too scared to say anything.

The people who did see us gave fugitive glances, as if they weren't expecting to see Dog-man's presence here and it reminded them that they had to be on their best behavior. It was like the principal had stepped into a classroom and the students were worried that they might be in trouble. It was evident that Dog-man carried a lot of respect. Maybe that was the difference between masked and non-masked people? Maybe the masked people were the leaders or peacekeepers of some sort; either way, they were most likely higher up in rank.

Dog-man pulled aside a woman who strongly reminded me of an old-fashioned nurse with her outfit. She didn't wear scrubs, but her outfit screamed, 'I am a nurse! I know what I am doing!'

Dog-man started to speak to her in serious undertones, _"Are you busy at this moment? No? Then I have a patient for you: a basic checkup for any injuries, a blood test for relation to Ninja 00-97-20, and the sleeper test."_

I watched as her expression morphed from deer-in-the-headlights to determined-to-please. At this point, Dog-man moved away the cloak with the arm that wasn't holding me securely to his person, making me more visible to the nurse. She looked at me with wide eyes before looking back at Dog-man when he started speaking to her again after his brief pause, _"Send the results of the two tests to the Hokage's office immediately. I will be here to pick this one up later, but until then the child should_ not _be left unattended. Do you understand the job I am asking of you?"_ He appeared to ask the nurse a question to which she answered quite earnestly, nodding several times.

Satisfied with her answer, Dog-man adjusted me in his grip before motioning to the woman with his free hand for her to lead the way. With an air of importance, the nurse led the way down the long, winding halls to a room, which she opened and gestured for us to enter. It looked like your basic hospital room: an examination table, two chairs, and a desk with a wheelie-chair combo.

The moment Dog-man entered, he made a beeline to the examination table and plopped me on top of it. He gave me a pat on the head, ruffling my hair briefly before turning away from me. It was then that I understood that he was leaving, leaving without me. I might not have known him for long, but I had grown attached to Dog-man, I didn't want him to leave, I didn't want to be left alone, all by myself.

 _Not again._

Without thinking, I frantically grabbed onto his sleeve, and it wasn't until he turned around to face me that I realized how stupid and clingy I was acting. I couldn't help it, though, and even though I couldn't look at Dog-man anymore, I still held on to him, feeling — _and probably looking_ — pathetic.

Dog-man didn't jerk away from my fragile grip on his cloak, but instead turned back around and gently petted my hair, saying something to me in comforting undertones. _"Hey there, it's fine. You_ will _be seeing me again, and soon. Come on, I promise."_ He then waited for me to look at him before ruffling my hair one final time and gently prying my fingers away from his cloak. He gave me a small nod and, just before he left, he gave a final remark to the nurse who gave a nod in response, _"I will return for both the child and the results."_

And then there were two.

The nurse stared at the door for a long moment before shaking her head as if dismissing her thoughts and turned around to face me. She gave me an unsure smile, as if she didn't know what to make of my random entry with no name and being dropped off by an, apparently, well-known masked man. I didn't return the smile. Instead, I looked out the window that provided a view of the city.

There were more superhero-esque people leaping from rooftop to rooftop, reminding me of parkour athletes. This seemed to be more of a mode of travel than a way to have fun. The city was strange, though, no cars and it wasn't built the same way you would think of a city. There weren't any skyscrapers. For sure the buildings were tall, but not that tall. This city would be an old-fashioned city, like one from the 19th century or something, minus the horse-drawn carriages and plus some 21st century, modern-day technology. If I looked off into the distance, I could see a mountain...

Wait, there were faces on the mountain...

Was that Mount Rushmore? I couldn't be sure, but something told me that the faces looking over the city were wrong, the same feeling that warned me that something was wrong with my body. I had visited the famous mountain in the state of either North or South Dakota — _one of the two, I couldn't remember_ _which_ — only once. I don't remember America's presidents looking quite like that. Although, I could be wrong, I haven't been known to have the best memory in the world, as proved by me not knowing for sure which state the mountain was in — I _think_ it might've been the South one.

My thoughts were interrupted by my shirt being pulled over my head. The nurse set my only article of clothing aside before giving me a physical. She checked my weight— _which she clucked at disapprovingly_ — and my height, which she frowned at. She wrote the information down on her clipboard with a concerned sigh and continued with the rest of her checkup.

The nurse looked at my eyes, nose, ears, and throat. She checked my blood pressure — low, according to the numbers she wrote down. This didn't surprise me, my mom's was low too. The nurse also checked my reflexes, gave me some vaccinations, and listened to my lungs and heart. Even took a sample of my blood. At the end of it all, she continued to look at me with a concerned and disapproving look, poking my ribs — _which were subtly peeking out under my skin_ — and gently touching the deep sleep circles under my eyes. The gaunt and tired physical appearance had come from The Last Days that led up to The End.

Those times were dark things best left unmentioned.

The nurse moved to put the sleep-shirt on me again before looking at it in disgust. I didn't blame her. My favorite shirt had been ruined from the flood water, the water that — _Stop, don't dwell on it._

Casting one look between me and the shirt, the nurse decisively tossed the shirt in the rubbish bin by the window and opened a cabinet, revealing the hospital issued robes that tended to expose your butt if you weren't careful. She quickly put it on me before heading over to the door, sticking her head out of the room.

The nurse called to someone outside and spoke to them in low tones before closing the door, approaching me once more. Carefully, making sure to make no sudden movements, the woman picked me up and off the examination table. We left the room and went down more halls, leaving me more hopelessly lost than before. If I had to hazard a guess, though, we were in the part of the hospital where patients were housed if they were injured, sick, or unwell enough to need to stay in the hospital.

We went in a room that was obviously geared towards younger patients. The wallpaper had animals on it with a landscape of forest and sky. Some toys were strewn around the room as a small handful of children looked up at us entering briefly, before returning back to their games.

The nurse took me into the bathroom and started to fill the tub with warm water. She, obviously, intended to bathe me, but I was reluctant to cooperate. If I was truly the age I appeared, I wouldn't have minded one smidgen — _I would have thoroughly enjoyed it, actually_. Yet, I wasn't. I was a young adult in the body of a toddler, I wouldn't be able to enjoy it for obvious reasons: embarrassment and discomfort.

Of course, any resistance I put up — _minimal_ — was no match for her greater strength and larger size. I was placed in the soapy water, suds covered the surface so I couldn't see the liquid below. I wasn't too bothered, though, it was only a bathtub that was barely a fourth of the way full. There was nothing for me to fear. Or, at least, that was what I told myself.

I refused to let her do everything, though, since I was, in fact, able to do most of the things she wanted to help me with by myself. In the end, the nurse ended up only scrubbing my hair and back, since I took care of the rest. She tried to let me have some time to play in the water, but I wasn't having it, not wanting to stay in there any long than I had to.

Perplexed, the nurse dried me off with a towel, while I looked off to the side, refusing to meet her eyes, and moved my body according to where she wanted to dry next to offer the greatest convenience. There was a knock at the door and another nurse entered; this one blonde and bubbly. She was holding a bundle of clothes. A bundle that was no doubt meant for me. I held out my arms to accept the clothing, but instead, the blonde nurse squealed, dropped the clothes, and snatched me up into a tight hug.

"Mmph!" Was my muffled cry of surprise as the woman's breasts effectively muffled the sound. I briefly struggled, not liking the unfamiliar contact, before going limp, realizing that there wasn't any use to it. I briefly considered biting or hitting or something, since it always seemed to work for other children this age, but dismissed it. I wasn't that desperate. Yet.

It was the other nurse who came to my rescue, _"Pahoua, put her down, you're scaring her, poor little lamb's shy as anything! Also, you dropped clean clothes on the floor, they could've gotten wet!"_

 _"Ah, sorry, Matron! She's just so cute and little. Her hair is so soft too and smells nice. I just love the scent babies give off!"_ The blonde reluctantly set me down while chattering away in the nonsensical language that everyone seemed to speak here.

Hurriedly, I edged away from the touchy-feely stranger, wary of more unwanted physical contact. The younger nurse pouted but kept her distance. The older nurse shook her head good naturedly before picking up the clothes that were dropped on the floor. _"Alright, come here, child,"_ the first nurse said gently but firmly, holding a pair of shorts ready for me to step into.

There were those words again, "guòlái ya." That wasn't a name at all! It was a request, but a request for what?

 _"Come here,"_ the nurse repeated, shaking the shorts slightly to garner my attention. Obediently, I stepped over, allowing her to help dress me as I pondered the mean of the mysterious words, "guòlái ya." I reviewed the times I've heard them said, trying to work out the meaning. I remember Dog-man saying them to me as he held his hand out to beckon me closer. Also the older nurse said it twice not too long ago to get me to come closer to her.

So, did that mean it was a way to call people over to you? Most likely, but I would have to test it out. My "fellow peers" would be the perfect test subjects. Adults would wonder what I wanted and I might gain unwanted attention that I couldn't get rid of with a simple distraction. The toddlers, however, would accept a toy and think that the small object was the whole reason I called them over in the first place, if that was what the words really meant.

I toddled away from the two nurses who both watched me briefly, before the older nurse started to talk to the younger nurse in earnest, handing her a sheet of paper and pointing at it urgently, before giving it to her and ushering the blonde out the door. Finding them both suitably distracted, I picked up the first toy I could find without a child already playing with it and looked for my first test subject. I looked around but found that most of the kids were in groups which wouldn't suit my purposes at all.

There were a few on the edges that seemed by themselves and weren't playing with each other. I frowned, not liking that they weren't doing anything. Maybe they were shy and were waiting for one of the other kids to call them over? They would have to wait a long time, the others weren't going to notice them anytime soon. Then I smiled. I had notice them, though, and that was all that mattered. If none of the other children would call them over, I would.

Or, at least, I'd try to. We would have to see if it even worked first.

Clearing my throat, I called over to them, _"C'mere!"_ They weren't the only ones surprised, I was too. I wasn't used to the voice that had come out of my mouth. It was higher, more childish. I licked my lips and tried again, only a little more quietly this time around, since I already had their attention, _"C-C'mere."_ The three looked at each before hesitantly moving over to me. Looking down at my feet, I noticed some more toys laying on the floor and picked them up too.

By the time I looked back up, they were in front of me, standing uncertainly. Giving them a smile that was meant to be reassuring but probably wasn't accomplishing it purpose, I gave them each a toy, expecting all three to immediately start play or something. However, they looked at the toys questioningly before looking back at me. I looked back at them, just as stumped. Didn't they know how to play? Flustered, I made motions with my hands, making the doll in my right hand start to dance with the dog in my other hand.

The doll then hop-skipped over to the cat in the girl-closest-to-me's hands and start to make vague talking noises to it. Hesitantly, she spoke to the others, _"Is he trying to play with us?"_

 _"I think so,"_ the only boy of the three answered.

The last member of the group, another girl, remarked, _"He must've thought we were lonely or something, and now he doesn't know what to do!"_

 _"Think he was the one who was lonely,"_ the boy dismissed.

 _"Then let's make him not so lonely, he's a cute baby!"_

 _"Yeah! Look at that white hair, it looks like a soft cloud,"_ the girl-closest-to-me cooed.

 _"It looks like the fur on Shiro's tail or just Shiro's fur,"_ the boy said peering at me closer, squinting.

 _"I wonder if it's as soft as it looks?"_ The girl-closest-to-me moved closer and, with the hand that wasn't holding the stuffed cat, petted me on the head. Her touch was slightly rough in a way that said she was trying to be careful and didn't realize that she wasn't be very gentle. _"It is!"_

 _"Ooh! Let me try!"_ The other girl took a step towards me, hands outstretched. I knew what was coming next and didn't want any part of it. Taking my experiment as a success, I didn't hesitate to flee from the two girls who were most likely plotting different outfits to dress me up in, if the gleam in their eyes was any indicator.

 _"You two scared him off, nice going,"_ the boy laughed.

 _"No, we didn't, he's just shy!"_

 _"Y-Yeah!"_

 _"Whatever you say,"_ the boy kept laughing while the two girl glared at him in varying levels of embarrassment. What was it with people and touching me for no reason whatsoever? It was probably because I was a little kid. I could understand that. I liked children, but that's easy for me to say, because I've never had any of my own.

I stood on my tiptoes and looked out the window again, people-watching. Well, more like superhero-watching, but superheroes were people too, so it was a moot point anyway. My thoughts wandered to Dog-man and Mr. Badger's whereabouts and what they were doing right now. I missed them, more Dog-man than Mr. Badger but I missed him too. Did they forget me already? Probably not, but I bet they had other things on their minds right now. That made me sad.

In the end, I'm forgettable. I have no one here who knows me and cares beyond the care they would normally give to some random child found by themselves in a poor state. If I suddenly disappeared the way I came right now, I'd be forgotten within a week, with maybe the occasional, vague thought for a few months. My sister would be forgotten too; as it is, I'm the only one who remembers her or even knows about her.

And think about how many people are worse off than she is. All those people who no longer have anyone to remember them other than God who made them and knows the name of every star there ever was? All the people, memories, stories, all lost to the sands of time, dead and never to be found again? Now that's a truly depressing thought.

I pressed my head against the window, my eyes looking through it and at the people hopping by on the roofs. Suddenly, I could see the older nurse's reflection on the window I was looking through. I turned around to look at her and she beckoned me over, the room was empty and we were the only ones left. Flushing with embarrassment, I padded over to her and followed her out of the room.

* * *

I haven't eaten in five days. I didn't realize how much the smell of food would affect me. You would think that I would be ravenous and would be eating any and all food within reach, but the exact opposite was true. It made me feel slightly queasy, ill, I felt that I would be sick if I tried to eat what everyone else was eating.

I hadn't truly felt hungry since The End, my Last Day. I remember that the first day was the worst, the second day wasn't much better, and on the third the hunger had started to go away. After that, the hunger pangs just kind of died — _ha ha_ — on the fourth day, since I had nothing to feed myself with. And today, day five, I also didn't have much chance to find food nor did I have the words to ask for any.

The older nurse knew I've hadn't eaten anything in a long while; it's her profession after all. She didn't even attempt to feed me the food the rest of the kids were being fed, she had me start out small. Even then, I didn't want to eat it or, in this case, drink it. She had given me milk to drink and kept insisting that I drink it. She didn't let up until every bit of it was gone, and she didn't dare take her eyes off of me, as if I might try to pour it into a potted plant or something. It was whole milk. I've never been able to really tolerate whole milk, since it was always a bit too rich for me. I had been raised on skim milk and usually drank only that, so I just about threw this up, but I managed to keep it down.

The older nurse seemed to know this, as she just patted me on the back and didn't make any motions to refill my cup, like I dreaded that she might do. It was only a glass of milk, a small one at that, but I felt full, as if I had consumed a huge meal. I felt as if I wouldn't be able to eat any more food for the rest of the day or even need to. Of course, the nurse didn't think the same, as she had me drink another, although not as full, cup a while later. It was easier to drink a second time.

I didn't feel as sick as the first time and I realized that there was sugar added to the milk. I have no way of knowing whether or not she added it only after I almost got sick the first round or the first also had sugar added. If I had to guess though, I would guess it was the latter, as she probably added not just sugar, but other things to help me get back to a full bill of health.

The nurse kept giving me cups of sweetened milk at regular intervals, each cup being only about six ounces, maybe a little less. I was probably on my seventh cup, hours later, when he came back. I didn't notice him at first as my back was to him and I was in the middle of downing my cup of milk. The nurse had stood up and walked away while I was still drinking, but I hadn't thought anything of it. Honestly, I just assumed she was trusting me to finish the rest of it while she took care of something briefly.

I saw him after I hopped down from the table I was seated at. I seriously hadn't expected to ever see him again, I thought that I would just become a distant memory to him. One that he wouldn't be bothered to really remember, except as an occasional thought if he randomly saw me walking below him on the street as he hopped around from roof to roof. Thrilled, I ran over and hugged his leg, glad to see him once again. Busy listening to the nurse talking to him, Dog-man absentmindedly patted me on the head.

 _"— underweight, low-blood pressure, and problems with her breathing, which is shallow and fast. However, this is probably due to her severe case of starvation. I've written down instructions for how that should be dealt with as well as any other..._ concerns _of mine."_ The nurse handed over some paper to Dog-man who quickly scanned through the stapled packet.

 _"...'possible case of abuse and neglect?'"_ Dog-man asked stiffly, shifting his weight and ever-so-slightly tensing, as if for a fight.

 _"She has been starved, is dehydrated, and there more than a few scars on her body. All of them are old, but I find it hard to believe a two-year could've cause them all by herself,"_ the nurse answered solemnly. _"It might not be the case, but I want to cover all bases, so the child's caretaker is aware of any future issues that may crop up."_

 _"I...see,"_ Dog-man stated, still tense, but no longer seeming as if he was silently plotting the nurse's assassination. _"We will be leaving now, unless there are any last minute_... _concerns_?"

 _"...No,"_ the nurse said finally after a short pause and Dog-man nodded before turning and starting to walk away. Surprised, I let go of his leg and hesitantly started to walk too with his guiding hand on my back. _"H-However... this, this might not be any of my business but, but, Dog-san?"_

Dog-man stopped and turned his head to show that he was listening. I stopped too and looked at the nurse who looked so very old at that one moment right then, even though she couldn't any older than her mid-thirties. Surprised and a little disheartened, I reached up and took a hold of Dog-man's hand — _which had been hovering where my back used to be_ — with mine, squeezing. After a pause, he gently applied pressure back, stroking the back of my hand once with his thumb.

The nurse continued, realizing she wasn't going to get any more of a prompt than that, _"Did Hokage-Zhǔxí find her a caretaker or, or is she going to an orphanage?"_

Dog-man stiffened, his grip tightening minutely before relaxing, _"True, it is not your business. However, a relative has been located, was approved by the Hokage, and has filled out all the necessary paperwork. The child is no longer your concern."_

The nurse looked confused and more than a little ruffled by what must've been a curt dismissal, when her face abruptly cleared, realization dawning upon it. Her smile came like a sun breaking through the clouds, all the years on her forehead smoothing away. A new respect had filled her eyes as she gazed at Dog-man. _"I see, thank you for telling me, Dog-san. I feel much better now that I know that that she will be in capable hands."_

Dog-man didn't answer, but instead, he gave my hand a light tug and together we left the hospital, once again, through the window. If it was anyone else, I would've screamed, but he's a superhero, _my_ superhero. And anyway, if I did that, he probably would've dropped me on accident.

* * *

 **Vocabulary:**

 **Guòlái ya(, bùyào hàixiū) – As you probably already guessed, it means "come here". The words in parenthesis are the rest of the phrase that weren't recalled, the full phrase that's mostly used to summon small children is "come here, don't be shy" or something to that extent.**

 **Zhǔxí - Direct translation is 'chairman", but is nowadays more often meant to be "president". It's essentially a title for** **Leaders of certain organizations such as political parties. In this case, the Hokage, which is a distinctly Japanese title.** **The Land of Fire adopted** **Zhǔxí basically as an honorific for the title of** **Hokage, it's mostly used by shinobi, when directly addressing the Hokage, or when being formal when mentioning him. Most in the nation just use "Hokage".**

* * *

 **A/N: So here we are, I finally got around to making one of my own after years of reading others' works. I've been bouncing this story around with my co-author, Sylwia Kiley, for a few years. I'm on my own now, but I will do my best to continue what we had created together.**

 **Expect slow updates, my life has been extremely out of sorts lately.**

 **Also, no romance for a long time. The end-goal of this story isn't to have the main character end up in a relationship with some other main character. Honestly. But there may be a sub-plot with some. Eventually.**

 **My goal is to have this one be different from other Self Inserts. There will be some intersecting with cannon, but the main character's path will be off the forged one of the series. Also, this main character hasn't read the Naruto series. When I first started this with Sylwia, I didn't know near as much as I do now. Plus, why does the main character always have to be a huge fan of the fandom that they land in? There's around seven billion people, chances of one of them being put in this situation and not knowing about the fandom or vaguely hearing about it maybe once or twice in their lives is pretty high. Just saying.**

 **Also, there's a huge reason for the main language being Chinese instead of Japanese. It'll be revealed later on, but I'm pretty sure with all the foreshadowing (my one huge vice, whoops;;) a lot of you will get an "Aha!" moment pretty soon.**

 **I probably have a few ideas or details in this story that are based off of 'Dreaming of Sunshine' or 'Deja Vu No Jitsu', but nothing big, nothing dealing with the plot, just the small details about everyday ninja life.**


	2. Brand New Day

_Dream, send me a sign;_  
 _Turn back the clock, give me some time._  
 _I need to break out, and make a new name._  
 _Let's open our eyes to the brand new day._  
 _It's the brand new day._

\- Brand New Day, Ryan Star (2010).

* * *

"English, what our main character speaks."

 _"Chinese, what everyone else speaks unless otherwise stated."_

'Thoughts.'

* * *

 **Note: Each elemental nation has it's own personal language. For the common tongue, the language is vaguely similar to Mandarin Chinese except archaic in its usage. Also, much like in Quebec, Canada; where children learn both Canadian French as well as English, so do the children in the Land of Fire learn the pseudo-Japanese and pseudo-Chinese. This is in part because of the founding clans; the Senju** **(Shen-Yu)** **is Chinese in origin and the Uchiha is Japanese in origin.**

 **For the Land of Fire, the national language is Japanese, but if speaking formally at work/on-duty or to strangers or just in serious situations so there can be no mistake of the meaning, Chinese is the default.**

 **Eventually, when our main character starts speaking the languages more, Chinese will be** this **, and Japanese will be** _this_ **.**

* * *

 **Day Two.**

* * *

Kakashi honestly didn't have any clue just what was going through his mind when he said, " _I can_." That was probably because he wasn't thinking — _a rare occurrence in itself_ — not including the circumstances that caused his brain stop working and let him make such a life-altering decision in the first place. Life-altering, as a decision like this could not be considered anything less with a teenaged, single ninja taking in a toddler. Even the Hokage gave him pause, this being so unlike the young ANBU captain, and offered another chance out of this, a graceful backing out.

" _You do realize what it will entail, Dog, no,_ Kakashi, _since that is who I am asking this right now,_ " the third Hokage inquired, reverting to Japanese instead of the more official Chinese all reports, meetings, and debriefing were stated in.

" _Yes, I do, Hokage-sama_ ," Kakashi answered, also in Japanese, taking off his mask. Wolverine had left a while ago, just as the results of the blood test were delivered by a hesitant blonde nurse. Not that it mattered; Tenzō knew him and he knew Tenzō, simple as that.

" _Are you certain you are up to such a task at your age?_ " Most people, when asked that, are quite a bit older and are undertaking something outrageous and possibly life-threatening in pursuit of getting back lost time, to feel young again. Arguably, what Kakashi was doing wasn't much different, just in reverse. A young man taking on something before he should, not even twenty, not yet.

" _I_..." Kakashi paused. Yes, why was he doing this again? He owed the child nothing, despite what the test said. He didn't even know the kid's name. He was a ninja, an ANBU even, he could die on the job. He wouldn't be able to devote one hundred percent of his time to the kid. He was only eighteen and wouldn't turn nineteen until next year. He had no experience taking care of children — _not counting all of the babysitting D-ranks, because those just wouldn't_ compare. He was living in a single bedroom apartment. All his friends were ninja, and most of his cons applied to them as well. Worse, he had enemies, if they found out about the little girl...

" _Kakashi-kun?_ " The Hokage prompted.

Ah, he had paused too long. What was wrong with him? What happened to all his quick precise answers? What happened to the calm and collected ninja? The so-called child prodigy, Protégé of the Yellow Flash, and the Legacy of the White Fang of Konoha?

The White Fang.

Sakumo Hatake.

Kakashi's father.

The father who for so long, Kakashi had first admired and loved. To be sure, Sakumo was a great father, the best a single father could be while having a job as a ninja. Kakashi had been taken care of, loved, and raised right for the first eight years of his life. Or, at least, he'd like to think so, anyway. The father who had been Kakashi's one focal point, his one goal, a goal so high as to be almost insurmountable, until one day, Sakumo fell.

 _And what a fall it was._

Kakashi couldn't understand. Other people called his father a traitor, but that couldn't be true. His father was the best ninja out there, Konoha's own White Fang! Why would they say that? Kakashi had been willing to give his father a benefit of a doubt, wanted to let him explain everything, needed the truth. His father never told Kakashi his side of the story, though. He had withdrawn into himself, withdrawn so far that not even his own son — _the only other member of the Hatake clan left_ — could reach him. Still, Kakashi waited, thinking it would pass, like when his mother died. It would pass, it had to pass, it —

It didn't.

Sakumo left him, something that he promised he would never do when Kakashi was a young child not too long after his mother died. Kakashi felt betrayed himself and then decided that, 'If he betrayed me, who's to say that he really wasn't a traitor to the village?' Even after finding out the exact reason why his father was a traitor, Kakashi's beliefs only got further cemented in, 'He stayed for his friends, but not for me?'

Kakashi then came to an important decision, he would follow orders. Only the rules held importance, he would follow only them and all down to the letter. He became ashamed of his father and aspired to be everything Sakumo wasn't — least of all a traitor. Kakashi always felt that he was fighting some sort of battle all by himself, completely alone; even though he had other people in his life, he shut everyone out. It was dark and tough going without that guiding light — or any light, really. It was a struggle to do anything; he had to fight so much harder than everyone else, to live up to those previous, positive expectations and not to the new, negative ones.

Kakashi had to learn the hard way of what decision his father had to make and Kakashi almost made the wrong choice. He still, technically, had made the right one — _the same choice as his father did_ — but it was a close call. ( **It still felt as if he had failed.** ) Kakashi might have just as easily chosen the wrong one. Kakashi might have had made that choice, if his father didn't make the choice he did or didn't have that mission. If his father was still alive —

He had to stop there, the realm of the "What If's" was not a safe place to be in his line of profession.

Still, Kakashi hadn't explored this train of thought for years now, the ANBU Corps having taken up almost every aspect of his life. Kakashi supposed he could call himself 'happy' or — _at the very least_ — 'content' with his lifestyle. It was easy, so easy to lose yourself in the work, so easy to forget things. He thought he had buried those feelings — all that hurt, the loneliness, and that damn abandonment-issue. What did that say about him as a ninja, if all it took was find a little girl in a field?

What did it say about him in general?

And really, what was the real reason he was doing this, if Kakashi was honest with himself?

"Kakashi," the Hokage prompted more firmly. The young ninja looked up at his superior, realizing he had to give an answer now or not at all.

" _I don't want what happened to me to happen to her. Growing up alone, I mean. She's Aoko's child... and my own. I can't stand by and do...nothing. She is in the same boat I once found myself in... and I don't like it._ "

I don't want my kid, or any kid really, to turn into what I was and what I could've been, because they didn't have any guidance.

" _...And who does that make you, if that's the case, Kakashi-kun?_ "

Who do you feel that that makes you, then?

" _Me._ "

Myself, both the good and the bad.

The Hokage smiled for the first time since the whole conversation started, " _I hope you're up for some paperwork, Kakashi-kun. It has to be completely filled out before you can assume custody._ " Kakashi stared at the stack handed to him.

Ah, so this would be the cause of his death, then?

* * *

He hadn't lived here for close to two years now, ever since Aoko had went on her solo mission and contact had been lost. He still visited to keep it up, but he hadn't lived in the Hatake estate for the longest time. He probably would've sold it or let go into disrepair, if he hadn't kept hoping that...

Well, it had always been a fool's hope of his anyway.

If he wanted to live here with a toddler, though, a few things would need to be taken care of first. Like the weapons, rooms, bedding, clothes, food, paperwork, and any possible hazards — as in the aforementioned weapons. If he was a civilian, it would be a lot more of a challenge to complete in a few hours, but since he wasn't, well...

He had clones, 'nough said.

But even by the time he completed the list of things he had to do — _paper pushing, grocery shopping, cleaning, laundry, setting up the water heater and power, among other things_ — there were still other necessary chores he would have to do. Turn in the paperwork, apply for paternity leave, and actually pick up the little girl for starters.

Easy things to do, it was just that there was only one, teensy, little issue that he needed to solve before he did those things. In fact, it should have been the easiest task to do all day, but Kakashi had no experience in these things, and it was a matter of critical importance.

What was he going to name the kid?

He already had the last name covered, Hatake, his surname, but for the given name? That was a whole other issue, a task that he had been hoping to leave to a certain someone. Names hadn't even begun to be discussed since they hadn't known about the girl. What did you go about calling a baby? Kakashi supposed he could continue the naming pattern: Sakumo, Kakashi, and…

Anda? They did technically meet in a field, but maybe the girl wouldn't want to be reminded of that later on, so, no.

Toshi? Possibly, but it seemed generic, almost as if he didn't put much thought into it. Kakashi knew some families took all nine months to come up with the "perfect name." Not to mention Aoko would have killed him for even considering the name, if she had found out. He should probably try again.

Sachiho? ...Now he was trying too hard. The name didn't even make much sense.

Chiharu? Did Kakashi just consider that name? No, definitely not.

Amemai? Hey, that one wasn't half-bad. Great, now he just had to… Oh, wait a second, he had a friend of his that had the same name, it was already taken...

But what could he do? All the names he came up with centering around the idea of a "farmland" didn't seem to fit. It was frustrating. Maybe he was just bad at naming children. Kakashi thought about some more agricultural names, rejecting all of them, before another idea came to him.

A horrible, _awful_ idea.

If he couldn't think up a name by himself, why didn't he just choose a name that was already thought up as long it didn't belong to someone he knew? He had plenty of books, why not choose from one of them? If Kakashi read normal books, this wouldn't have been too much of a problem, however, his taste in books… He got them from his father, his teacher, and his teacher's teacher.

Adult Romance. The horror.

It was lucky that Kakashi was a smart man and thought that he shouldn't make it too obvious where the idea of the name came from. He chose a more obscure book, one that had been published when Jiraiya was his age. It hadn't been very popular — so there were few copies of it — but it was one of Kakashi's first books that he read in this genre. It may not have been descriptive or explicit, but the whole plot and the characters touched the young jounin.

It was the reason why he was into this genre of books in first place, by awaking his inner-closet-romantic self.

Flipping through the book, he skipped around until he came across the name he wanted. Nodding to himself, he sat back down by the table and filled out the rest of the form, satisfied with his final choice. Gently blowing on the ink — _trying to coax it to dry faster_ — Kakashi thought to himself, 'There are worse people to be named after, but I think the kid wouldn't mind if the origin was ever found out. Nor would Aoko, since she knew just who I pictured that character as.'

He set the paper back down on the stack of paperwork and briefly left the room to go retrieve his dog mask, while the glistening ink — _still damp_ — said in the neat and careful script of Kakashi's calligraphy:

 **Hatake, Fune**

* * *

His hair, it was white — _like mine_ — and he didn't seem very old either. Did he set his hair on fire too? The idea was just too ridiculous to even consider seriously. Most likely, he had the rare set of genetics that let him have a white-blond hair color. Yeah, that sounded much more believable than him trying to put out the fire his mother had started while boiling water of all things.

To this day, I still have no clue how she had accomplished that small — yet fantastical — feat of failure.

We were talking about Dog-man here, there was no possible way that a superhero like him had ever needed to be shaved bald before. Seriously, the mere idea of it was laughable. Seeing him take off his shoes in the house, remove his cloak, and then put away the black cloth in a closet, struck me as a very mundane and normal thing for him to do, especially after all those seemingly supernatural acts of awesome that he pulled earlier.

Hesitantly, I followed him around the house, if you could even call it something so humble as a mere house. This place was huge, from what I could see from the outside when we landed on top of the wall that encircled the whole place. I had searched my mind for the word that fit the place the best and came up with mansion and estate; although, the large wall made me think compound too.

With a surrounding wall that high, though, it brought the disquieting thought of: 'Just what the heck are they trying to keep out?' I hoped it was something innocuous like nosy neighbors, but something told that wasn't what the wall's true purpose was.

I also realized quickly that we were the only ones here. No one came over to see who had entered the house, which was unlocked. I paused by the stairwell, looking up it, as if waiting for someone to race down the stairs to greet me. For a brief moment, I smelled herbs and freshly dug earth, I fancied that I felt arms wrap around my neck in a familiar hug.

Then the moment passed, and I was alone again.

This made me feel uneasy, as if this place was haunted by people long forgotten or gone. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and gooseflesh covered my arms. Feeling panicky, I looked around for Dog-man, but I couldn't find him. My heart started to pump faster and my breathing became a touch hysterical. I could feel the corners of my eyes start to prickle and a tickling in my nose, which made it start to wiggle.

The beginning of tears.

Mortified, I hurriedly rubbed my eyes with the back of my arm, making a small, distressed noise. I needed to get a grip. I'm sure I could find Dog-man if I looked around. I mean, what's the worst that could possibly happen?

 _ **You could get lost in this place with all the Others**._

With a chill going down my spine, I fled from the stairwell, completely spooked. My feet pitter-pattered on the hardwood floors as I ran down the hallway. Dog-man suddenly appeared from around a corner and — _not slowing down in the least_ — I collided with his legs and desperately held on, needing an anchor right then.

Surprised — _and more than a little confused_ — he patted my head, trying to calm me down from my panic attack. I could tell that I had alarmed him, could feel him flounder above me as he searched for the reason of my distress. He eventually supplied his own answer, but I doubted that it was the correct one.

Gently, Dog-man managed to transfer my death grip from around his leg to his hand. He then lead me into what could've been a living room with its couch, chairs, coffee table, and various shelves around the wall filled to the brim with books. It had a very relaxed and laid-back atmosphere, this room, but it also felt vacant, as if it hadn't been used in a long time. Dog-man flounced down on the couch.

Well, maybe 'flounced' wasn't quite the right word, but compared to how Dog-man usually acted for the few hours that I knew him, this would probably be the closest that he would ever get to it. He just sort of slumped into his seat and let out a long, drawn out sigh, relaxing into the couch. He ran a lazy hand through his mop of hair and then did something entirely unexpected.

He moved to take off his mask.

I must've made a noise or something to convey my surprise at his actions, because he stopped. I felt like I was being stupid, but I couldn't help myself, though! It was like before when he took off his shoes and put away his cloak. Dog-man just didn't strike me as being simply like any other normal, non-magical, civilian human. I suppose this included him having an actual face behind the mask.

I heard Dog-man let out a chuckle before he pulled me onto his lap, his masked visage close to my face. Gently, he took me hands into his own and guided them to the hidden strap that held the dog mask to his face. I held my breath, apprehensive at what could be hidden behind said mask. With Dog-man's help, I slowly took off his white mask, revealing one dark grey eye that assessed my astonishment with much amusement, while the other remained closed with a long vertical scar in the middle of it.

Distracted, I stared at the disfigurement — _concerned_ — and didn't notice the rest of his face yet. With much care, I softly ran my finger along the length of the painful looking blemish. It obviously didn't hurt anymore, but it had to hurt at the time. It also appeared that he was unable to use his eye anymore because of whatever had caused that scar.

How was he able to compensate for the blind spot and terrible depth perception? Had he gotten used to it after who knows how long with only one eye? Most likely that was the case. I just hoped that he had trained himself so that he wasn't overly dependent on that one eye.

I remembered reading this manga story where the main character had been blind in one eye. He had developed an almost sixth sense when concerning that huge blind spot — _having a higher guard on that side compared to the other_ — as he depended on the eye that could see to protect that side.

The person training him noticed this and exploited it, attacking not the side that was blind, but the side that wasn't — _the one with the weaker guard_ — to prove a point. After the training spar, he had the main character be blindfolded and find his own way back home from the training grounds, so that he could develop a sixth sense on this other side too. That way he wouldn't depend so much on that one eye. Did Dog-man or his mentor realize the same thing and take precautionary measures?

I hoped so, it would be a very bad thing indeed to learn that lesson the hard way when failure wasn't an option.

I finally looked away from the scar to take in the rest of Dog-man's face. I didn't get very far, because he wore another mask, this one covering the lower half of his face.

That was just too much.

I let out a small giggle at Dog-man's need to dress up like your stereotypical ninja. His eyes — _well, eye_ — curved into a smile, seemingly pleased that he got me to laugh. Curious to what was under that mask, I hooked a finger under his face mask and tugged it down from his face. Dog-man watched me with a lazy gaze and smirked at my surprise when I found nothing amiss under the face-mask. There were no noticeable blemishes or scars — _other than the one on his eye_ — that I could see. The only thing out of the ordinary was how attractive he was.

A mixture of Asian and European features fought for dominance on his face but in a way that was aesthetically pleasing to the eye — no pun intended. High cheekbones, a royal nose, a soft looking mouth with a small beauty mark on the left corner, and his face had a smoother edge to it without the mask. He seemed to be much, much younger without it. My previous guess of being in his mid-twenties, corrected itself to him being in his later teens. I understood why he had those masks now. No one would've been able to take him seriously or give him the proper respect with that baby-face. Dog-man's smirk grew at my astonishment, the expression off setting his boyish features, making it a lot harder to see the stoic and mature man who hid behind a dog mask.

" _Surprised_?" He asked, his smirk turning into a grin. " _Most people are, which is part of the reason why I keep my face hidden. The mask helps me look older, but that didn't actually start working until after I had my growth spurt._ "

I had a feeling he was telling me not to feel bad, since he was using the same tone a friend of mine would when she was trying to make me feel better after I did something particularly stupid. Dog-man's attractive face and my irrational ideas of him not having one aside, I wondered what was going to happen to me now.

I'm in a strange, new place, possibly in the past or a very rural area, and I have no comprehension of the language spoken around me, except for one phrase. I can also only assume that I was staying with Dog-man from now on, as I was in his house instead of at either the hospital, an orphanage, or some other person's house.

So what did that make Dog-man, then? A caretaker? A guardian? ...A father?

I quickly rejected that last idea. I never had the best experience with fathers. My dad had left me when I was a baby, I never saw him or never remembered seeing him. I never hated him exactly — _since you can't exactly hate what isn't there_ — but I've always resented him in some form or another.

Of all the bullying I had deal with as a child, there was a significant portion dedicated to the fact that I didn't have a dad. Over the years, my resentment had died down to an indifference. I refused to let him get the satisfaction of a win by losing myself in senseless anger and hate, wasting my life chasing after a ghost. However, sometimes I wondered if he still won anyway, all that wasted time and energy only for it to leave me with a foul taste in my mouth: the favor of defeat and resignation.

I admit it. I have 'Daddy Issues'. I am reluctant to give someone I felt respect — _and some fondness for_ — a tarnished title, one ruined by others. I could continue to call him Dog-man. It would work for the time being — _as we were still strangers to each other_ — but if I ever wanted to form a closer relationship with him, neither 'Dog-man' or 'Father' was going to cut it.

But that was an issue that could wait until it was time to cross that bridge.

And speaking of the once-masked-wonder, he had risen from his spot on the couch with me still in his arms, my head resting half-asleep on his shoulder. Dog-man crossed the room and squatted down on the floor, digging through a bag before he pulled out something.

Dog-man gently set me on the ground before he put the mysterious object on himself. I got a good look at it before Dog-man stuffed me into the thing. It was a sling, one parents use to carry around small children on their person. I usually would've been more humiliated at the whole concept, but I was too tired to really care at this point.

I hadn't slept in two days — _not since I had woken up in the field_ — too scared to fall asleep. My body was tired, sure, during all of that time, but my mind was wide awake. I always had trouble falling asleep and staying asleep back at home, waking up every two to three hours, unless I was truly and extremely exhausted.

Nightmares and an irrational fear of the dark will do that to you, not counting all the other issues I had piled up on top of it — anxiety, mild paranoia, dysthymia, imbalanced hormones … I was recommended to take sleep pills, but I always feared that I wouldn't wake up if I took them, not at the time I would want to wake up anyway.

Five o' clock sharp every day, except on the weekends when I try to sleep in as much as possible.

Work habits, disorders, and paranoia aside, my exhaustion could also be attributed to my current physical body that I resided in. My body was only that of a toddler's. Technically, I was only a toddler, even though my mind — _my spirit, really_ — was much, much more mature. I had been fighting the weariness that had been threatening to overtake me for quite some time now, ever since my first night here.

It was the fear that had kept me awake for so long.

The first night was the fear of the pond combined with the fear of the unknown, of what could be prowling around in the darkness. It kept me alert all night. On the second day — _just when I was contemplating on whether or not I should take a nap_ — Dog-man and his friend — Mr. Badger — showed up. I then had to deal with the fear of the uncertainty of my immediate fate, of whether or not they would kill me, making me die a second time.

When it became apparent that my stifling fear of what would happen to me at the hands of the mask superheroes may or may not have be justified, my paranoia found other things to keep me occupied. In the hospital, the nurse kept me awake and would not let me sleep, keeping a hawk's eye on me as soon as we left the large children's room. In the new room — _the waiting room_ — she would keep me awake and feed me every other hour or so, by my reckoning, a cup of milk.

I had got the feeling that she had to do this so I wouldn't fall into a coma where I would atrophy away and die. The fear helped keep me awake as well. She looked apologetic as time wore on though, so I gradually felt that it wasn't so much as a life or death thing but something else. This brought a bigger set of paranoia, paranoia that only intensified after seeing her pour something into my last cup of milk before I was picked up by Dog-man. I eventually managed to comfort myself with the thought that it was only the sugar I had tasted in all previous cups of milk — _excluding the first one_ — but now, however, I'm not so sure.

I think she put something in it to help me sleep, which seemed kind of backwards. I mean, didn't she want me to stay awake not that long ago? The more I put thought into it, however, the stronger the sense of duh occurred to me. The old nurse didn't want me to fall asleep until Dog-man picked me up. I would be less of a hassle and Dog-man could finish up any last minute preparations while I was passed out.

Not that I would be a hassle in the first place, but I didn't expect the nurse to know this, especially since she didn't even know my name. Regardless, I felt my eyelids start to droop as I slumped against Dog-man. Waves of weariness dragged me under the surface of consciousness and into the realm of unconsciousness.

...Heh, I guess I could be poetic once in a while, but I wouldn't count on it happening again anytime soon.

* * *

The little girl — Fune — practically passed out the moment Kakashi had put her in the sling. The older teen had read in the matron's report that the kid had been sleep deprived — _he could see it in the small child's eyes_ — but still, the complete trust it would take for someone to just fall asleep so deeply and abruptly... It stunned him, but perhaps, that was just because he was ninja and he was naturally more suspicious and untrusting than non-ninjas.

Carefully adjusting the sleeping child, Kakashi started chopping up some eggplant for his miso soup as the water and miso seasoning boiled. He could cook quite well... if he had a cookbook or a set recipe to follow. As the white-haired ninja learned from past experience, he was absolutely dismal at cooking from memory, on the fly, and creating new foods, especially when concerning baked goods, as the "Exploding Pie Incident" proved. It had been a bitch and a half to clean off the walls and ceiling.

Aoko had not been impressed with him, since she was the one to save his pie from burning only to have it "explode" in her face. Sleeping on the couch had not been a fun experience.

Glancing at his dog-eared and marked up cookbook, Kakashi added the eggplant and the dashi before setting the timer, fully ready to silence the noisy time keeper before it awoke the new addition to the Hatake clan.

Kakashi shifted, uncomfortable with the small being resting and drooling against his chest. He could hear her every breath and could smell her sweet scent with his heightened senses. His brows furrowed as he heard Fune's breathing catch and stutter before continuing on normally, if slightly labored. Kakashi loosened the sling a bit, hoping that the only reason she was having trouble breathing was because the sling was too tight.

But still, as he listened closely for a minute more, her troubled breathing didn't change, but it didn't appear to be getting any worse, either. Kakashi's frown deepened and he walked over to the table where he set the Matron's instructions and checkup report. He picked up the report first, his eye scanning down the page. His frown turned into a scowl as he read the sum total report.

 **Height:**

70 cm

 **Weight:**

7 kg

 **Blood Pressure:**

96/63 (Low)

 **Main Illnesses/Injuries/Other:**

Severe sleep deprivation  
Severe case of Starvation (72-96 hours)

 **Symptoms:**

Swollen nasal passages  
Lowered blood pressure  
Compromised immune system  
Shortness of breath  
Mental Distress

 **Further Notes or Concerns:**

Possible case of abuse

The report went into greater depth on the next page, but Kakashi had already found what he was looking for. 'Ah, yes, the Matron had mentioned something about that earlier, but I never would have guessed starvation to be the cause of it. I would've guessed it to be in the lungs,' the teenage ANBU mused before grimacing.

'But how am I supposed to take care of that? Can I just give her broth or is she too young for that?' Before Kakashi could start panicking any more than he currently was, the timer went off. Hurriedly, the white-haired ninja silenced it, cursing mentally, but the little girl only whimpered and shifted before falling back asleep. He sighed in relief as he removed the pot from the heat and set it aside to cool.

Brooding over his dilemma as he dished himself some rice — the only thing he could cook by himself properly without instructions — and some miso, Kakashi decided that he should probably get some How-To parenting books next time he went out. Meanwhile, he checked the instructions left for him by the Matron, which suggested that tomorrow he should give Fune some oatmeal before gradually building up to regular foods by the end of the week. It was suggested that Fune should be feed as often as she was hungry until her weight was back up to normal before he cut back to three meals a day with a healthy snack to break up the long periods in between.

He ate his meal and finished reading both the rest of the report and instructions, before he decided to head for bed himself. At the moment he was thankful for his foresight earlier to take a shower before he went to pick up Fune. Now he wouldn't have to worry about leaving her alone. Earlier, it had been a matter of great debate amongst himself — _more specifically, between two of his clones_ — of what Fune's sleeping arrangements would be, whether she'd be sleeping in the guest room — _he couldn't bear sleeping in the master bedroom right now_ — with him or in the bedroom across the hall.

Normally, if it had been any other kid, he would have had the opinion that she would sleep in the room across the hall so sleeping alone wouldn't become an issue later… But now? Fune was his kid, his _daughter_. How could he be sure that she was safe otherwise if she wasn't in the same room as him? Not to mention she was probably traumatized from being left alone in the middle of a clearing for who knows how long. Plus, he had the sneaking suspicion that Aoko had been a cuddler with not just him but their kid too.

In the end, it had been a decision for the best.

They had only been sleeping for a few hours before the trouble started. Somewhere deep in the back of Kakashi's mind, he had been somewhat expecting this, but there wasn't anything that would have prepared him for it, regardless. Whimpering or squirming, maybe, but certainly not Fune crying out in her sleep with sound similar to that of a wild animal: a howling so pure in its terror that it makes the inside of his mouth cold. He sat up straight and turned to the thrashing child beside him, attempting to wake her from the nightmare that held her so tightly in its clutches.

His heart nearly seized when he heard her choking and struggling to breath, coughing up water as if she had resurfaced from nearly drowning. It was an alarming experience to witness, but fortunately, Kakashi was aware enough to near-immediately react. Using the basic mandatory first aid skills ingrained in all leaf shinobi, he used a subtle chakra technique to draw out the fluid and clear Fune's throat. Closer inspection revealed that the little girl had been unconsciously creating half-formed water bullets. Kakashi was baffled and completely at a loss as he drew the child into his arms to comfort her. After a moment, he deduced what had happened.

Fune's chakra coils had finally awakened fully.

It was normal for children who came from ninja families to have a more drastic reaction such as this, especially if they were a clan child. And most certainly after experiencing something terrifying enough to give them nightmares where they screamed as if they were about to be brutally slaughtered — Kakashi could only hope that attempted murder was not the case but had a sinking feeling that it was. He shuddered, clutching the sniffling child closer to his person.

Normally, the chakra coils became active for the first time gradually, over a long period of time that consisted of years. It wasn't strange to have civilian children in the Academy that needed to be walked through the process of manually awakening their coils while the rest were assisted in learning to "grasp" that energy inside themselves now that they had located it. However, if the child was provoked into an intense enough outburst of rage or sent into a devastating fit of terror, the coils could be awakened earlier from that primal desperation of fight or flight.

There was a reason why this generation of Konoha children under the age of five had high expectations placed upon them. They had all awakened their coils early. Something that had been brought about from That Night a little over three years ago, where everyone had lost someone in a matter of hours in the dead of night. Fune hadn't been a thought, then. That Night happening a little over a year before what the date of her conception had been. Somberly, Kakashi carded his fingers through her soft, soft hair.

While Fune may have avoided That Night, she, in turn, hadn't been spared from whatever nameless terror that inspired this nightmare of hers.

* * *

 **Vocabulary:**

 **Anda - Meet at the field.**

 **Toshi - Most commonly used with the kanji to signify the meaning "bright, alert, intelligent", but in this case, the kanji with the meaning "Harvest" was used.**

 **Sachiho - Happiness and ear of grain.**

 **Chiharu - A thousand springtimes (seems more like a name that a certain Green Beast would give to his child, don't you think?).**

 **Amemai - two kanji "ame" and "mai" put together to mean "rain dance".**

* * *

 **A/N: Well, here's chapter two, along with some things that have been brought to our attention via reviews.**

 **The first and most important issue to be address is this: The main character, Fune, is a girl. The reason why a majority of the cast in the first chapter besides the blonde nurse and the matron said 'he' was because we were attempting to present the common fallacy that most people do... If they don't know the gender of someone/something (especially a child or an animal), they will default to a 'he' unless more stereotypical feminine clothing/accessories are involved or they are informed otherwise... Does this make sense? The next chapter should clarify everything.**

 **The second issue is this: The Hokage has no reason to meet Fune. At all. Sure, she may be the daughter of Kakashi Hatake and the mysteriously absent Aoko, but other than that? She's a nobody. Just some kid who may become valuable to the village by becoming a ninja. The Sandame, frankly, has more important things to do. That being said, this is our bid for a compromise.**

 **Third, interestingly enough, is this: Several of you appear to be fascinated with Fune, language, and the rest of the cast finding out her inability to speak it. We feel that it needs to be brought to your attention, yet again, that Fune is physically a** TODDLER **. It wouldn't be beyond the stretch of the imagination for a normal toddler to be unable to speak in any language but babbling baby talk... Which is exactly what the rest of the cast would perceive English as.**

* * *

 **The next chapter will be following a different pattern of storytelling, slightly. There is jumping around in time with a few one-shots in the daily life of both Fune and Kakashi. There will also be the introduction of four key players in the times to come. Thing is, they are going to be the people you least expect. I doubt that any of you could point out the other two while I basically hand out the first two on a platter next chapter. Take it as a challenge.**

 **Last of all, reviews are nice things, indeed. Anyone can give one: people with accounts, people with no accounts, people who wish to remain anonymous, family members, friends, even animals like dogs or cats if someone presses the send button after said animal has finished mashing the key board.**

 **Really, it's that easy to tell me this is good work or that this leaves something to be desired. Even if you don't want me to respond, just do it as a guest. I** **can't** **respond to a guest. Either way, both the review and your opinion will be received. Win - Win for the both of us, yes?**


	3. Catch You, Catch Me

_I will catch you, catch you; catch me, catch me - hurry!_  
 _Follow me and look into my eyes now,_  
 _It's so nice to meet you, good to see you clearly!_

\- Catch You, Catch Me; Cardcaptor Saukra (1998).

* * *

"English, what our main character speaks."

 _"Chinese, what everyone else speaks unless otherwise stated."_

'Thoughts.'

* * *

 **Note: Each elemental nation has it's own personal language. For the common tongue, the language is vaguely similar to Mandarin Chinese except archaic in its usage. Also, much like in Quebec, Canada; where children learn both Canadian French as well as English, so do the children in the Land of Fire learn the pseudo-Japanese and pseudo-Chinese. This is in part because of the founding clans; the Senju** **(Shen-Yu)** **is Chinese in origin and the Uchiha is Japanese in origin.**

 **For the Land of Fire, the national language is Japanese, but if speaking formally at work/on-duty or to strangers or just in serious situations so there can be no mistake of the meaning, Chinese is the default.**

 **Eventually, when our main character starts speaking the languages more, Chinese will be** this **, and Japanese will be** _this_ **.**

* * *

 **Day Forty-two.**

* * *

For the past two months, Dog-man hadn't let me out of his sight. After that nightmare I had my first night sleeping here all those days ago, we had both been a tired and stressed out mess the first week. Not to mention ever since then, my stomach seemed to be on the fritz, leaving me nauseous and not very hungry, despite his constant attempts to get me to eat and return my weight to normal. The nightmare had been about how I died, the flood and sensation of drowning… I shuddered at the memory, nervously picking at my hands and attempting to ignore my constantly churning stomach as I watched him move about the house, sans mask and that metal headband. He was attempting to kid-proof the rooms — _once again for the millionth time_ — after he caught me picking up this strange looking knife I found under the couch — honestly, why there of all places?

Dog-man clearly had no idea how to care for a child nor had he been prepared to have one at any point of his life; given the fact that there were so many hazards in that house, it would have made your head spin. The list of normal children death traps included but were not limited to: the stairs, uncovered outlets, the bathroom that contained questionable substances that were probably poisonous under the sink, sharp pointy objects that would appear in the most random of places, the booby-trapped windows (now that had been scary), and other things that revealed themselves to be inherently dangerous the longer I stayed there. Even though I'm not a normal child by any means, some of the things I found would have just as easily ended me too had Dog-man only been a little less attentive with that danger-sense of his — booby-trapped windows notwithstanding.

The house we were staying in was more like a gigantic mansion than anything else. It was in the style of a traditional Japanese — _maybe that was where I resided now? Japan in the future?_ — house. There weren't many walls to separate the rooms — _especially upstairs_ — instead, sliding doors were used and the rooms themselves were vast. Inversely, the hallways along the inner wall were long and narrow. They connected all the rooms and surrounded the porch, which led to large garden in the center of the house. The floor mostly consisted of tatami mats and wooden boards. There was also a garden big enough to have its own koi pond and a small bridge... I was starting to wonder if Dog-man was secretly a billionaire or something.

But if that was the case, you would have thought he would have had maids or a butler or a nanny, at the very least, especially since he seemed to have no clue on how to care for me exactly. While the last few weeks had been… trying, I wouldn't replace them, either. Despite myself, I had been having a good time — b _ut for the sporadic queasiness from my spastic stomach_ — and had grown complacent with my new life. Dog-man, for all his failings as a normal caretaker, was a good man with his heart in the right place. He was doing his best, and I couldn't — wouldn't — ask much more from him. His child-raising methods suited me just fine.

* * *

 **Day Five.**

* * *

When Kakashi woke up to see two large grey eyes peering down at him solemnly, he groaned lowly and forcibly stopped himself from reacting defensively. He really needed to get Fune her own futon at least. This one that they were using in one of the main guest bedroom was big enough for the two of them to fit in comfortably, but he had to deal with the worry of squishing her or mistakenly attacking her. By the time he had finally managed to sleep last night, it had been extremely late, or extremely early, depending. It also didn't help that Fune had nightmares and the habit of waking up early. According to the silent, specialized ninja-clock on the wall, it had just recently turned seven o' clock in the morning.

Groggily, Kakashi went about his business and then went down the stairs to prepare a breakfast of rice porridge and miso soup. Besides a futon, he would have to get her some better fitting clothes. The hand-me-downs of his that he had given her to wear had fit, but there were only a few that had been useable and even those hadn't quite fit properly…

He startled slightly when he felt more than saw Fune sidle up to his leg, clutching the hem of his jinbei shorts. Letting out a long sigh, he rubbed his eyes. 'This lack of sleep is making me lose it,' he thought privately. 'I'm getting so distracted, a toddler is sneaking up on me. Although, she can creep very effectively for someone her age... Something to thank her mother, Konoha's Blue Ghost, for?'

Breakfast passed without much fanfare — _except for Fune's almost disdainful gaze when he attempted to feed her, forgetting that she had managed just fine by herself yesterday_ — with his daughter eating what little she managed to get down, her newly-opened chakra coils affecting her appetite. He really shouldn't have felt sheepish in front of a little kid who couldn't even string two words together, let alone say one word, but he did. It really wasn't like him to be so absentminded. At least it wasn't as bad as yesterday where Fune remembered to pray — _something he hadn't done since Aoko lived there_ — even though she didn't know how to say 'itadakimasu.'

Fune seemed to find him wearing his mask funny, since after taking it off the first night, he had been in the habit of leaving it off as long as he was home. Placing the little girl securely in the sling, Kakashi roof-jumped to Konoha proper, more specifically one of the many shopping districts… This one more civilian oriented, as he wasn't quite ready to deal with any of his peers at the moment. He just knew that they would make a big deal out of the fact that he — "of all people" — had a kid.

He stopped first at one of the stores that he would occasionally visit for himself and was quick to spot other adults with their children. 'Were there always this many parents around?' He wondered as he awkwardly slunk over to the children's section of the shop. Paying extra attention to his surroundings, he listened to the various whining, laughing, and shouting produced by children in the store. 'I've… never really noticed this many kids either. I'd normally just pretend the snot-nosed brats didn't exist...' At least his tended to be on the quiet side, barring her night terrors.

Picking out neutral colored clothing that mostly involved shades of blue, grey, or black; Kakashi missed Fune's despairing look as she thought to herself, 'Doesn't he have any imagination at all?! How boring! I'm supposed to be a little girl, not a teenaged boy!'

Oblivious to her internal anguish, Kakashi mumbled to himself in Japanese, " _Looks good, but is it the right size? ...How tall are you, Fune-chan?_ " Of course, she couldn't answer him, so he took her out of the sling and held the shirt in front of her to estimate. 'Don't they say to always get a larger size for children's clothing?' He mused. " _Saa, this is close enough._ " He chose several more shirts, pants, a couple pajamas, panties, and some socks.

No skirts or dresses, making Fune almost want to cry at the waste of opportunity. 'Men!' She lamented.

At the next store, when Kakashi began to look at plain futons with dark colors, she put her foot down. " _No_!" She cried, scowling and crossing her arms. He blinked in surprise and set down the dark blue bedding.

"... _No?_ "

" _No!_ " She pointed at the pink bedding in the shelves behind them. The teen's eyes followed the pointed finger and twitched at the dark pink bedding with a light pink bunny pattern. Fune beamed and giggled at his deadpan expression before pointing more emphatically.

" _That? You want me to get you_ that _?_ " He asked with a tinge of desperation, hoping the answer would be another 'no'.

" _That! That!_ " She giggled delightedly, both at learning a new word and getting at least one cute thing. 'I might just drown in the masculinity otherwise...' After buying the futon, the two of them exited the shop and Fune watched in amazement as Kakashi sealed the futon and the shopping bags of clothes into a scroll, wondering how it was possible for that much matter to fit inside a piece of paper. She was still marveling over it as her guardian caught sight of a sign and paused in front of it consideringly before entering the onsen.

She had never been more mortified in her whole life.

Fune didn't know where to look, settling to alternate between closing her eyes and looking at her feet. It felt nice to have her hair scrubbed, something that she hadn't experienced since she had been a little girl back at home. With her eyes closed, she could almost pretend that it was her mom scrubbing her hair, but the moment faded when a couple of the kids from the next stall over began squealing from the initial spray of cold water. Kakashi dumped the bucket of warm water on Fune's head to remove the shampoo before he started cleaning himself.

When that was done, the both of them left the shower facilities and went over to the hot springs bath. There were close to a dozen men already in the water with a couple of kids — _who couldn't be older than four_ — splashing along the edges of the large pool of water. Kakashi wasted no time sinking into the water with a long, content sigh while she fidgeted, embarrassed beyond belief and reluctant to approach the water at all.

One of the little kids, a girl, called out to her as she sat on the lip of the pool, splashing her feet in the water, " _Comin'? Water's niiiiice_ …"

Kakashi lazily gazed at her with his one good eye, gentling chiding in Japanese, " _Don't be shy, Fune-chan_."

Well, she couldn't exactly refuse at this point without drawing more attention to herself. And it looked like no one expected her to actually get into the water — the other two children only ever dipped their hands and feet in. Besides, as long as she ignored the fact that everyone was naked, she could act as if she were merely beside a large hot tub. Didn't they also have the rule that children under the age of five were unadvised to soak in it?

* * *

 **Day Seventeen.**

* * *

Today, I had been getting the slightest bit bored and snooped around, getting into everything that had managed to escape Dog-man's rather thorough cleaning. You should've seen his face when he caught me climbing on one of the bookshelves to reach the possible reading material on the top shelves after he stepped out of the room for one minute. If I was the type to, I would have cackled. Really, his scrutiny only caused me to get a bit more creative and a lot sneakier in my mischief. I had the role of playing innocent down to an art form by this point.

I learned quickly that just like being unable to understand what was being said — _other than "come here", "that", "no", "stop", my name, and precious few other words, in both languages, of course_ — I also couldn't read a thing. I could only stare at the neatly printed scribbles in dismay before Dog-man let out a panicked sounding yelp and took the orange colored book away from me. His face was flushed as he looked at me absolutely horrified. I could only guess what the contents of that book were, but I had a strong suspicion of what they might be, exactly. It only reaffirmed my suspicion of Dog-man being a bachelor — although the fact that he kept his "bachelor pad" this clean left the idea suspect.

And like any bachelor, he had the option of being either a great cook or a horrid one, and at this very moment, I was getting a very clear picture of which category he belonged to. Dog-man really didn't seem to be a very good cook at all. I think the extent of his abilities was making rice and beyond that he would have been a hopeless case without that cookbook of his. Even with it, he was a bit useless in the kitchen sometimes. For all of his worry about me, he had the potential of getting into bigger trouble than myself if he didn't pay attention to what he was doing.

"Ah!" I cried, pointing at the stove. Dog-man's eyes slid over to where I was rather irately attempting to climb over his hastily made barrier of boxes, as he dug in the storage room next to the kitchen. I pointed more urgently. "Ahhh!" It's times like these that I weep for my limited vocabulary. " _Stop!_ " I demanded. " _Stop, stop, stop!_ Ahhh!"

Finally, he looked at the stove… just as that boiling pot of water set on fire. It appears that even in my new life, I will get a hopeless cook as a parent. At least Dog-man was quick in extinguishing the flames by placing the lid on the pot to smother them. " _Totto, totto_ ," he muttered to himself before sighing, " _What an experience_..." Cocking my head, I slowly parroted the term 'nante koto' back at him. Dog-man blinked at me in surprise, tilting his head back at me with a calculating gleam in his one good eye. " _You're pretty sharp for your age… What exactly did Aoko teach you, eh? Or did you just watch her cooking often enough to pick up on some things?_ "

I didn't have an answer for him and could only give him a vaguely annoyed look. "Mmm!" I raised my arms up in a clear message for what I wanted. Obviously, this hopeless bachelor would need a minder while he cooked, language barrier be damned.

" _Maa, maa, Fune-chan, manners wouldn't be missed with you_ ," Dog-man huffed, but there was a smile on his uncovered face as he hoisted me into that sling of his that he tended to carry me round in, keeping both hands free. Of course, he wasn't going to get off that easily. I couldn't read the cookbook at all, but I could give an educated guess to what it said based on what my wayward guardian was going to do. If he was about to do something that looked like it might turn unpleasant or burst on fire, yet again, I made sure to get the message across that he needed to quit it. " _What a demanding child,_ " he whined. " _Even now, Aoko won't let me off easy, she just sends a little minion to do it for her…_ "

But the food ended up tasting better than usual.

* * *

 **Day Twenty-three.**

* * *

Fune didn't know why he had a sudden change in heart — _it had to do with him being tired of her getting into so much trouble in the house, because she was bored and going stir crazy_ — but now the both of them were outside at a park. She looked at Dog-man helplessly and he seemed to be at just as much of a loss as his daughter was. " _Go play,_ " the teen told her, making a shooing motion. " _You're supposed to know how to do that, right?_ " Kakashi looked at the toddler uncertainly.

She stared back at him, unsure as to what was expected of her.

He let out a sigh and turned Fune around so that she was facing the park before he gave her a nudge forward. She sent him a dirty look but took the action as it was. Fune realized that since she looked the part of the child, she was expected to play the part of the child. With a huff, the woman-turned-girl looked around the playground and spotted the swings, something that she had loved to be on in a past life as both a little girl and as an adult. Having found something to occupy herself, she ran forward with a grin.

Meanwhile, Kakashi — _after observing the actions of other parents_ — took a seat on one of the many benches around the perimeter of the park. After a moment, he took out a copy of 'Icha Icha Paradise' and began to read it, looking for all the world as if he was oblivious to his surroundings as he let out the occasional giggle, much to the disgust of nosy onlookers. Said onlookers edged further away from him and made sure to warn their children to stay back from the 'white haired pervert'.

This firm warning, however, made it that much more difficult for Fune to immerse herself in her supposed cover of 'child'. While most of the young kids didn't know what the word 'pervert' meant, they definitely knew their colors and stayed well enough away from both Fune and Kakashi. Not that Fune cared, being left alone from her so-called 'peers' suited her just fine as she swung on one of the swings, much higher than many of the physically older children could do by themselves.

A lot of it was simply memory. Despite her having a different and much younger body, Fune remembered the sensation of swinging quite well from literal years of collective experience on the favorite pastime of hers. It only took her a few faulty starts before she was able to adjust for the differences and gain both height and speed, making fellow swingers being pushed by their parents jealous, begging to 'go higher' and be 'pushed harder'.

At some point, she got sick of the whining and began to slow down. Once she deemed it a safe speed and height for her new body, Fune let go of the cords and flew through the air. She landed a sizable distance away — _stumbling and flailing for balance_ — but managed to keep her footing. Memories of a time in her old life where she would compete with other kids on who could go further pervaded her mind's eye. The sandbox always had deep ruts and impact zones from the aftermath of it all. Depending on the weather, the sand would be extremely hot or gently cool to her bare feet.

She shucked off her blue velcro sandals and stood there barefoot. This time the sand was lukewarm, and she curled her toes in pleasure. Picking up her sandals, she went back over to where Kakashi was sitting. He looked up from his book to watch her place her kid-size ninja sandals next to his adult-sized ones, assessing her utterly in that one glance before he went back to his book, satisfied that there was nothing wrong.

For all appearances, he seemed like he wasn't paying her any attention whatsoever, on the verge of being neglectful in the eyes of nearby civilian parents. In reality, it didn't take him much effort at all to split his attention between watching his daughter play and reading a book that he had finished countless times before. Actually, he didn't have any trouble bestowing more attention on Fune than the book while still managing to keep up with the storyline just fine.

Not that his parenting techniques were any of their business.

Of course, that's when the chaos erupted over by the swings. Kakashi looked up and stared as a handful of civilian and two ninja children jumped from the swings and plummeted to the ground, most of them failing to land solidly on their feet. A few of them even started crying from their awkward landings. Only the ninja kids and one civilian boy managed to land with any success and not complain. The young ANBU lost interest fairly quickly, scoffing and patting Fune on the head before he returned to his book. " _Don't play so rough, Fune-chan_."

She wasn't paying attention, only looking on in guilt as one of the kids who decided to mimic her was being taken home with skinned knees and hands, crying and sobbing. Her heart clenched in pity. She was used to playing with hardier kids, the kind that might flinch or complain about getting skinned knees before they hurled themselves back to the game. Fune and her group of friends from her past life had gotten more scratches and scrapes from climbing tall trees and rough housing from just one day of play, and had cried less.

A lot of it had to do with how she and her friends had been raised, a more hands-off approach and plenty of tough love. A majority of small injuries like small cuts and bruises were handled by being told to 'suck it up' unless blood was spilt. Even then, there was little fuss. Here, with these children, helicopter parents seemed to be more of an issue. Well, with some of them. There were three kids whose parents hadn't immediately run over in panic or were scolding them. Actually, the parents of two of those kids looked like they were praising their children for their successful landings.

Deciding to be more careful with her actions around her supposed peers— _they seemed easily impressionable and foolish enough to 'want to try that too' concerning anything that looked remotely "cool"_ — Fune slunk off in the direction of the jungle gym in the hopes of finding something considerably less dangerous to occupy her time. Kakashi watched her under his eyelashes as he read, causing the nearby parents to stew silently, especially the ones whom had children that mimicked Fune.

Said unintentional white-haired menace started climbing, unaware of her attentive audience, consisting of concerned parents and their various offspring. It didn't take long for her to reach the top. While she may have been unused to her significantly shortened reach, Fune knew how to climb extremely well and how to get to places that were out of her grasping range. It helped that she was barefoot at the moment.

Looking like a cross between a monkey and a spider, she scurried around the top of the jungle gym. At one point, she hung upside-down from her knees before switching to a koala-like grip. Fune slowly stretched her body out so her feet only hovered about a foot above one of the platforms that dotted the climbing structure. She let go and landed solidly — _balance intact_ — before going down the slide attached to the platform. For the heck of it, she run up the set of stairs provided — _forgoing the connected jungle gym_ — and went down the same slide again.

Spotting the monkey bars, Fune considered them. She had never been all that good at going across them, as her upper arm strength tended to be lacking when she was holding up her own body weight. Perhaps… Perhaps since she was in a much smaller and — more importantly — lighter body, the difficulty level would be that much lower. Besides, she needed something to occupy her time until Dog-man decided that it was time to either go back home or that the two of them would go elsewhere.

Climbing up the three steps, Fune futilely reached for the first bar, her arms straining. Studying the distance, she made an experimental jump, coming up a tad too short and tumbling down to the ground. Dusting herself off, she climbed up the steps again for an actual attempt, not noticing how the nosy parents who sat next to Kakashi were reacting as they shifted between tutting at teen and looking pityingly at struggling toddler.

The elder Hatake, of course, heard every scalding word as they muttered about him disapprovingly in what they considered a whisper. He was also extremely aware of everything Fune had done in the past twenty minutes as well as her struggle with the monkey bars, something that even he had to admit was cute. Standing up, he replaced his book back into his pocket and made his way over to where Fune was once again preparing to jump in the attempt to reach the closest bar.

She startled when his hands effortlessly lifted her up high enough to reach the bar that she had been striving so determinedly to reach by herself. He carefully let go of her once Fune had a firm grip, keeping his hands hovering nearby and ready to catch her should her grip slip. The youngest Hatake glanced at him briefly over her shoulder before she swung her body back and forth to gain momentum before lashing a hand out and managing to grab the next bar. Fune remained stuck between the two for a moment — _her legs flailing uselessly_ — before she got her other hand on the next bar as well. Her current expression declared her as inordinately pleased with the minor accomplishment.

She repeated the action only one more time before she lost her grip and… well, it could be hardly called falling, since Fune was caught nearly instantaneously. The girl made a motion that made it clear that she wanted to keep going, so he placed her on the bar she had been halfway on before she slipped. Only about five more bars to go, nothing that Fune would let stand in her way between herself and the other side of the monkey bars. Either way, her task was made infinitely easier with Kakashi assisting her in making sure she wouldn't fall down to the ground that was at least a meter and a half below her.

During this, a couple of ninja parents and one chūnin babysitter watched the proceedings in complete shock. It had always been well established that Kakashi would likely remain a bachelor for life, and even if he ever did get a girlfriend, it was an unspoken assumption that he would never even consider having children. Kakashi just gave that vibe that he would rather take on a tailed demon than have anything to do with caring for children for extended periods of time, especially ones younger than Academy-aged kids.

They had assumed for some asinine reason that he was minding one of the many children in the park like the chūnin was, probably one or several that belonged to parents from the Merchant Guild. Sometimes if the child or children belonged to someone of higher importance to the Guild or several merchants banded together and pooled money, it would be enough for a high C-rank mission. There had been less A- and B-ranks as of late, it wasn't completely beyond the scope of the imagination that Kakashi would take the easy mission for the generous pay. They were even able to dismiss the white-haired toddler running around the playground; there were plenty of ninja who had that particular hair color or one in a similar shade in Konoha. There was just no way that Kakashi Hatake, the socially awkward, aloof, closet-pervert jōnin would have a kid.

But it was impossible to ignore when what looked like a little boy with the same shade of hair approached Kakashi and deposited little ninja sandals by his feet, nor could they ignore the teen smiling down at the toddler and patting his head. Not to mention, they would've had to be blind to not see Kakashi actually getting up and helping the toddler across the monkey bars and praising him for the job well done. The fact that Kakashi was wearing a sling and being perfectly fine with carrying the toddler in it, only enforced the possibility. But what really sealed the deal was Kakashi looking directly at them and smirking at their dumbfounded expressions.

Of course, when they tried to tell their coworkers later, no one believed them.

* * *

Mercifully, after I got across the last bar, Dog-man seemed to realize that I was done with being at the park and rather felt like going home. This time he deemed today as a time to walk home instead jump across roofs like a parkour addict. This gave me a lot of time to think to myself and a lot of time to stare at his face, more specifically at his mask. Why was he even wearing it if he was off-duty? (I could only assume that he was on-leave for now since he was taking care of me instead of fighting supervillains.) And really, I had yet to see anyone else wear a face mask, and the longer I looked at it, the more unnecessary it seemed to me.

A positively mischievous thought occurred to me: what would happen if I took his mask off?

…

I simply had to find out, the possibilities were as endless as they were amusing. Gleefully, I reached out and tugged his mask down — only to reveal that he wore another, identical mask under it. Dog-man radiated amusement from my scandalized look. A split-second later, that amusement switched to an almost-wicked gleam of mischief. " _Oh, Fune-chan, why didn't you say that you wanted to try one on yourself?_ " His tone was utterly patronizing, almost oozing sweetness.

Then he took off the mask that I had pulled down and put it on me. I glared at him while he laughed and continued to tease me in that tone of his. I tried to take it off but I couldn't undo the knot with my chubby, child fingers. I gave him a pleading look but Dog-man pretended not to notice with that infuriating grin on his face, snickering occasionally.

I would not forget this indignity. 'Mark my words, Dog-man, you will rue the day you crossed my path! We'll just see how funny you think it is when I doodle on your dog mask, you peasant,' I growled to myself, beyond pissed off with my treatment. I squirmed and struggled until he took me out of the sling and put me down on the ground. If we were going to walk home like normal people, I was going to be walking back under my own power. See how well he liked having the cold shoulder.

I mean what kind of person wears another mask under their mask?! It wasn't as if he had much of a reason to, his face was gorgeous! I could understand that weird headband that he was using as a makeshift eye patch, but the face mask with a secondary one under it? Wasn't that overkill? And then, of course, he thinks he's so funny by trying to make me a mini-dog-man. I didn't take well to being mocked.

It was about this time that I heard a yell — _more like bellow_ — in the main unknown language everyone spoke, " _ETERNAL RIVAL! YOU HAVE RETURNED!_ " I let out a startled squeak as there came a sound of a large impact behind me, the shockwave making me tumble to the ground. And when I turned, I exchanged a wide-eyed stare with a man in a green jumpsuit.

* * *

 **A/N: Unfortunately, I had to end this chapter sooner than I wanted. I fell behind schedule. But all that means is that the next chapter will be that much longer for you to enjoy.**

* * *

 **Vocabulary:**

 **Jinbei - Also known as hippari, jinbei are traditional clothing worn by men, women, boys, girls, and even babies during the summer. They are basically pajamas. Sometimes, a form of jinbei will be worn instead of a yukata during a summer festival.**

 **Itadakimasu – Literally means "I humbly receive", is usually directed at the cook. A proper response would be "hai, douzo" ("here you are" or "there you go").**

 **Saa - A noncommittal reply indicating that one has understood a statement and given it serious thought.** **Some possible translations are "So!", "Well!", and "Beats me!" (A good English equivalent might be the British "Innit?").**

 **Onsen – A term for hot springs, but can also refer to the public bathing facilities**

 **Totto, Totto - Informal phrase meaning "oops! oops!" or "whoa! whoa!"**

 **Nante koto - An interjection that literally means "what an experience!".**

 **Maa, Maa - Informal phrase meaning "calm down" or "there, there." It is also used to refer to something that is "same as usual."**

* * *

 **In Japan, clothes are measured by height for children.**

 **Also in Japan, it's not uncommon for young children of either gender to go into the bath or shower with their parent and/or siblings, around four or five is the cut off period usually before they bath or shower alone.**

* * *

 **Any further questions, complaints, ideas, praise, or criticisms can be submitted in a review.**


	4. Don't Leave Me

_And I need you, 'cause lately you've been the world to me._  
 _I need you, 'cause lately you've got the best of me._  
 _Fall apart, fall apart, fall apart._  
 _Don't leave. Don't leave. Don't leave me._

\- Don't Leave, Seven Lions feat. Ellie Goulding (2014).

* * *

"English, what our main character speaks."

 _"Japanese, what everyone else speaks unless otherwise stated."_

'Thoughts.'

* * *

 **Note: Each elemental nation has it's own personal language. For the common tongue, the language is vaguely similar to Mandarin Chinese except archaic in its usage. Also, much like in Quebec, Canada; where children learn both Canadian French as well as English, so do the children in the Land of Fire learn the pseudo-Japanese and pseudo-Chinese. This is in part because of the founding clans; the Senju** **(Shen-Yu)** **is Chinese in origin and the Uchiha is Japanese in origin.**

 **For the Land of Fire, the national language is Japanese, but if speaking formally at work/on-duty or to strangers or just in serious situations so there can be no mistake of the meaning, Chinese is the default.**

 **Eventually, when our main character starts speaking the languages more, Chinese will be** this **, and Japanese will be** _this_ **.**

* * *

 **Note 2: No, "Ngai Maito" is not a spelling error, but rather a Vietnamese name with a Japanese surname. More at the bottom.**

* * *

 **Day Twenty-three.**

* * *

This lasted for all of one second before two things happened: Fune noticed that Kakashi had disappeared and Ngai burst into tears. Fune decided then and there that seeing a grown man crying like that was one of the strangest things she had ever witnessed, especially when he scooped her up into an embrace while doing it. What further mystified her, was that none of the passerby gave more than a brief glance before walking on as if they had seen this countless times before and weren't phased by it any more. The woman-turned-child didn't know which was worse, the idea that it was a repeat occurrence to the point where others came to be immune to the strange awkwardness of it, or the fact that it was a common thing at all.

" _My rival, what has happened to you?! You have shrunk! Is this a genjutsu?! A curse?! Do not fear, Konoha's Green Beast and your Rival, Ngai Maito is here! I will not let you down, Kakashi!_ " Ngai swore with utter sincerity, coming to the conclusion that his best chance of correcting the sudden dilemma was to take his best friend to the hospital to be checked out by professional medic nin. Then he took to the roof, knowing it to be the quickest route, which made Fune come to the random realization that he was the only 'superhero' that she had seen that actually looked like the superheroes she had known back home.

...This still didn't distract her from the fact that she was essentially being kidnapped. So, she did what any person in her position would do. She bit him.

Protesting loudly, Ngai stopped and attempted to detach Fune head from his arm without hurting her with little to no success. With his flailing and bellowing as well as Fune's growling and refusal to let go, she felt that they must have made quite a spectacle. Which they were. While Ngai was known for being much louder than the average — _or, rather, most_ — ninja, this was noisy, even for him. Kakashi finally decided that this had gone on long enough.

It wasn't that he meant for this to happen, but when he sensed Ngai's presence incoming at high speeds when he least expected it, well, he panicked. Automatically using shunshin to escape to a short distance away, well out of range from Maito's Dynamic Entry. Of course, by the time he remembered Fune a split second later, Ngai was exchanging surprised glances with her… before bursting into over-the-top tears. It was all Kakashi could do to not burst out laughing from the look of bafflement on his little Fune-chan's face.

And, of course, Ngai's erroneous assumption that Fune was him. Was it really that beyond the scope of the imagination for him to have a kid? Did he honestly give that impression that he disliked children that much? While he did admit that he often didn't care for any of the snot-nosed brats that he had to put up with in the Academy or during the inane D-ranks his squad had to put up with when Rin and Obito first joined, that didn't necessarily mean he hated all children in general and would never want to put up with any of his own… But he guessed he could see where people got that impression.

" _Gai, I would appreciated it if you released my daughter,_ " Kakashi deadpanned, landing from his jump across the roofs to about a meter in front of the two. Fune released her grip on the jōnin's arm to immediately reach towards her father.

" _Down_ ," she demanded in Japanese, wriggling. " _Down, now_." Konoha's Green Beast complied, a grin crossing his face as Fune attached herself to Kakashi's leg like an urchin.

He crouched down to her level, also speaking in Japanese at her, " _My sincerest apologies, Hatake-chan! How unyouthful it was of me to mistake you for my Eternal Rival when you are clearly a lovely little flower of the Hidden Leaf!_ " Fune narrowed her eyes at him as he continued to coo — for there was nothing else he could possibly be doing right now despite the volume of which he was doing it — at her.

Finally having enough of being patronized yet again, she deadpanned, " _No_." She batted Ngai's face away with her hand. " _Stop, stop, stop_."

" _So hip and cool, just like her father,_ " he griped theatrically before standing. His expression turning into a thoughtful one, brows drawn together seriously. The two adults regarded each other solemnly, with silent communication passing between the both of them. The question hanging in the air: if she was Kakashi's daughter, then who was the mother?

" _She's Aoko's, then?_ " Ngai stated more than asked in Chinese, finally breaking the silence. 'Who else would it be?' He wondered to himself.

" _Yes, she was found only recently… According to the reports, it's been theorized that the reason Fune didn't make it to the village completely was because the summon had been dismissed. There were no signs of a struggle._ " Left unsaid was the obvious, if the summon wasn't injured, killed, or the mission objective was incomplete, the only other reason why it would be dismissed was if the summoner was killed and there was no other summoner for the bond to fall back on. Aoko hadn't had an heir or a co-signer on the panther contract. There hadn't been anyone else.

" _So it's been made official, then, her death?_ "

" _They will be putting her name on the stone, yes,_ " Kakashi answered quietly. " _I'll be going there with Fune sometime next week…_ " A moment of silence passed before the Copy-Cat Ninja deliberately broke it by slightly changing the subject, " _I will be sure to tell her how you thought Fune was me, though. She'll love that_."

Ngai took a split second to react, giving a nod of the head so slight that it would have been missed if it wasn't looked for... or you weren't a ninja. He respected his friend's space, and backed away from the sensitive topic by playing along. He squawked, flailing. "T _hat's hardly fair, Kakashi! What was I supposed to think,_ aliens _?!_ "

Kakashi stared. " _You and your aliens. Sometimes I wonder if your brain's been abducted by aliens_."

" _There you are with your hip and cool attitude_ ," the green-clad teen accused, pointing straight at the half-lidded grey eye that stared so dispassionately at him. "T _his will not stand! I CHALLENGE YOU!_ "

The white-haired teen shrugged, before looking down at the toddler still clinging to his legs. " _What do you think, Fune? Should I or shouldn't I?_ " He only got a perplexed look. " _Eh?_ "

"..."

Kakashi sighed dramatically. " _I suppose you're right... He won't go away otherwise,_ " he joked before turning to his friend and straightening to his full height. " _Maito Ngai, I accept your challenge_."

" _Another round? No cheating!_ "

" _I would never,_ " Kakashi gasped, placing a hand on his heart. " _Your words wound me._ "

"... _Kakashi_ …"

" _Yeah, yeah, no cheating, I know. This is a contest purely won from skill and the 'flames of our youth', I remember._ " Lifting the leg that Fune was still clinging to as if she wasn't even there and placing it to the side, he got into position: squatting down slightly and clenching his fists before bending his arms at the elbow in the ready position. " _Ready_?"

" _Yosh!_ " Ngai declared, his posture mimicking that of Kakashi's.

Simultaneously, they swung their bodies side-to-side in a jiggly dance, shouting, " _Sai-sho wa guu! Jan. Ken. Pon!_ " Showing their hands, they declared 'rock' at the same time, resulting in a draw. They went again. " _Ai-ko de-sho!_ " They showed their hands again, another draw. " _Ai-ko de-sho!_ "

" _Scissors!_ "

" _Rock!_ "

They froze, staring at the draw, before Kakashi slumped in defeat while Ngai cheered. Fune stared at them like they both grew a second head. "You people are crazy," she mumbled to herself as she watched the two men's antics with narrowed eyes.

* * *

 **Day Thirty.**

* * *

Today was going to be one of those days, I could just tell from how weighed down Dog-man seemed to be, a cloud of depression hovering over him. After that encounter with the retro superhero in a green jumpsuit and orange legwarmers, the week had slowly become more and more gloomy. Now, it seemed that everything had come to a head. Dog-man was up before I was and gave the impression that he hadn't slept, having instead remained awake all night.

What gave me this impression was how… organized everything was in the morning, as if he had hours to plan ahead and make the necessary preparations. With enough time leftover that he had obsessively went through and checked everything at least three times before being satisfied. For one thing, the whole place was clean, like, cleaner than usual to the point where it looked like a set from a 'Mr. Clean' commercial. Well, apart from the scent of food that filled all the rooms by the kitchen, despite the windows that were opened to air out the smells and heat from the cooking done.

Breakfast was already laid out with a vaster selection to choose from than usual. There was the traditional miso soup and rice, ham that was fried in soy sauce, sweet tamagoyaki, pickled vegetables and fish, and cold soba noodles with a dipping sauce. It seemed like there was a special occasion but I couldn't figure out what for. No matter how much I tried to puzzle it out during breakfast as Dog-man coaxed me into eating more than I normally would.

After the meal when I went to go brush my teeth while Dog-man cleared the table, I noticed a knapsack by the door. A clue that we were going somewhere, which would explain the big meal, to keep us full for a longer period of time since when we'd stop to have lunch was uncertain. I still didn't figure out what was going on until I was looking at the clothes that Dog-man had taken the time to set out for me: a plain black kimono-like top with black pleated pants. The foreboding feeling that something was off intensified.

'Are these… funeral clothes?' I wondered, heart sinking as I pulled them on solemnly, absently noticing a diamond-shaped crest with nine squares inside it sewn in the left shoulder. It was at this point that I realized that it was the best explanation for Dog-man's recent downturn in mood. Taking a closer look at what he was wearing only cemented the idea in my mind, an all-black — _excluding the white crest_ — outfit similar to mine, instead of the usual dark navy blue sweats. While all of the clothes we owned were shades of grey, blue, and black — _with the occasional, small splashes of color added here and there_ — we never wore all black before.

We walked to the funeral, if that was really what it was. There was nobody to view or a closed casket or even an urn. Just a memorial stone that was a similar shape to the blade of those knives that Dog-man owned. With the names that covered the surface of the huge structure and the black stone that looked like marble, I was reminded of the stone monuments that honored dead soldiers. Was there a war and news of this person's death just got announced? Or was the war already over and their death finally being honored? There was no way for me to ask, but even if I could, I wouldn't. That just wasn't the type of question you asked at a service like this.

There were maybe twenty people there in total. I recognized the retro superhero from before and spotted Mr. Badger standing at attention with a Mr. Bat on the outskirts of the group, but other than that, I didn't recognize anyone there. There were some people who stood out from the small crowd. I spotted a man with wicked looking scars, a lady with purple (!) hair, another lady with what looked like war paint on her face, and an elderly man in white robes with a funny-looking hat.

There were also three children there too whom I was grouped with. We were placed in an out of the way corner with coloring books, paper, and plenty of crayons to share among the four of us. Two of them were my age and the third was about five years older, looking abnormally somber for a probably-eight-year-old. Two of them looked like they could be related with their doll-like features, blue-black hair, and inky black eyes. The oldest one had hair just long enough to be put in a ponytail, while the younger had his hair in a short pixie cut. The last one had short, spiky brown hair and sharp brown eyes, eyebrows furrowed in a sullen pout.

They were pretty quiet, seeming to pick up the serious mood rather than merely being shy. I took the opportunity to watch the ceremony. The old man in the funny hat talked for a very short while before another man came in, placing his hand on the stone. His hand glowed blue and the sounds of grinding were heard as a name was carved into the stone. The whole process of the carving lasted maybe a minute, making the whole ceremony about three times that length. That part was short.

Afterwards, people talked quietly among themselves, most going over to Dog-man and talking briefly with him. Others went to the stone to study it for moment — _paying their respects_ — before leaving. Some people glanced my way, scrutinizing me as if they were looking for something. A sign of some kind.

Eventually, a pretty woman with long, flowing blue-black hair came and took the two similar looking children: the probably-eight-year-old with the somber demeanor and the toddler, who waved goodbye. Awkwardly, I belatedly waved back at him, but I couldn't tell if he saw or not before he disappeared from sight. It was just me and the scowling toddler now, who was fiercely scribbling in his color book, managing to mostly stay within the lines. I glanced at my own untouched book and frowned before peeking at the Scowling One's. I flipped through the pages, confirming my own suspicions. It was all coming up ninjas and anything ninja related. Although there was also some sign language and superpowers thrown in for good measure, followed by the recurring snail symbol or a four-point star with a fan in the middle of it.

Actually, now that I thought about it, those two boys had that same white and red fan patch sewed on the left shoulder of their black kimono top. Maybe the fan was their family crest, like the diamond-and-squares crest belonged to Dog-man and I? If that was the case, were they, like, a noble or royal clan because their crest was inside that star in the coloring book? I had no idea and didn't have a way to find out at the moment.

Someone gently patted my head, breaking me from my thoughts and intense scrutiny of the coloring book. A woman with blonde hair done up into a bun and soft brown eyes, smiled kindly down at me. Her tanned hand gently tilting my chin this way and that as she studied my face. " _Fune-chan has her facial structure_ ," she remarked absently in Japanese. " _But the rest of her looks are entirely yours, Kakashi_." Dog-man made a faint sound of acknowledgement as he and the lady with war paint came to stand behind her.

"' _Kaa-chan_ ," the scowling boy said, a smile replacing his frown as he got up and hugged the leg of the blond woman tightly. Voice muffled, he asked, " _We go now?_ "

" _Kouki-kun_ ," she scolded before sending an apologetic look at Dog-man who waved her off.

The scowling boy pouted at the rebuff before turning back to me and began to gather up his coloring books and other supplies. Hurriedly, I helped as much as I could, holding his knapsack open so all he had to do was place everything inside before I zipped it up for him. " _Thanks_ ," he mumbled before taking it and making a bee-line back to his mother.

The blonde lady had rounded directly on Dog-man, using a mothering-tone as she spoke, " _You take care of yourself, Kakashi. I mean it. Fune-chan needs you in the present, not wallowing in the past, alright? If you need anything, Kouki and I will be there._ " Her piece said, she took her son's hand and started home. Their absence making me notice quite suddenly that there was only the three of us now: me, Dog-man, and the war-paint lady.

There was a pause as the two adults were lost in thought before she gently reached out and pulled Dog-man's head to her shoulder in a soft embrace. He froze for a moment before wrapping his arms around her waist, hands gripping the back of her shirt. No words were spoken, but he soon began shaking, his grip on her tightening before all of Dog-man's well-maintained control broke, sobbing into the lady's shoulder and letting out all the frustration, pain, and grief that he must've been holding in check for who knew how long.

I was in shock. The constant source of strength who seemed unshakable — _even in my worst of nights and in his worst of nights_ — broke down completely. He's only human, you might say. Of course, he would show weakness once in a while. But you don't understand; up until now, Dog-man never gave any indication of grief or sorrow beyond being moody this week, let alone cry. To see a capable man like that burst into tears was beyond unsettling; it was both scary and heart-wrenching.

I caught myself. '"Man",' I repeated to myself in horror. 'No, Dog-man's younger than I am... was, a teenager. A teenaged, single parent on his own.' It was so easy to make the mistake of considering him an adult that was in his early twenties, so very easy. Easy to overlook and easy to forget that he was just a kid like me who had to grow up too soon and too fast. I had forgotten to the point where seeing him show uninhibited emotion like this threw me into turmoil, panic. I wanted — _no, needed_ — to comfort him, just like he did for me after every nightmare or flashback, and believe me, there were a lot.

Without any more need for debate, I rushed over and hugged his leg tightly, the only part of him that I could really reach. "Daijobu," I murmured quietly, carefully patting his leg. "Daijobu." The very phrase that he would say to me in comfort. I didn't have the vocabulary to go much beyond that in the way of offering any consolation. I don't think it helped any.

The painted lady eased the two of them down into the grass before pulling me into the hug, making me be sandwiched between the two of them. While I don't mind physical contact, this was a bit too, eh, personal and intimate — her boobs were suffocating me. I shifted and managed to free my face, leaving the temporary distraction of my impending death by smothering useless. My throat swelled in pity and sympathetic grief. I didn't know who passed away, didn't even know if it was a man or woman, but seeing how deeply it affected Dog-man, hurt me too. There was no way for me to ask who it was and I definitely wouldn't even if I could — that would be a cruel thing to ask — but that didn't stop me from wondering.

Was it a relative? Or a lover? I couldn't say, but there was this woman here too… Maybe she was Dog-man's girlfriend? Or were they just friends? In-laws? I couldn't tell. And as far as relatives went, if home was really a compound, Dog-man might not have any family left besides me now. And if I was right about there being a war, the last living remnant might have died in battle. There was so many maybes and no way to answer them. Sometimes, especially now, I was sick of the language barrier.

It might be selfish of me to think so, but at least with the barrier, I have an excuse to not being able to offer any 'words of comfort'. Although, the painted lady had only uttered one thing — _"I miss her too."_ — during the whole time we sat there, up until Dog-man and war paint lady's tears had died down. She stood up with me on her hip — to this day, I never figured out how she had so smoothly placed me there without me noticing until it was too late to escape — and began to pick up what remained to be put away into the knapsack. When she made to pick up the backpack too— _all while I was still perched securely on her hip!_ — Dog-man stopped her.

" _Wait,_ " he said quietly, taking the bag from her. He removed a sizable plate of what looked like chocolate cinnamon buns covered in powdered sugar instead of frosting, followed by a large bottle of what looked like booze and a smaller bottle of something else. I squinted at him. Was this what they called an 'offering'?

To my surprise, he brought out three smaller portions for himself, the war paint lady, and me. He placed the large plate filled the look-alike buns by the memorial stone and poured a saucer of the booze to place beside the plate. He sat the smaller bottle next to me, revealing it to be what looked like a kid-friendly drink… Which I could not figure out how to open whatsoever. Why did they have to make it so complicated?! I should not have to use this many brain cells to figure out how to open a stupid bottle! And was that a marble?! Just what the heck was this?!

Eventually, Dog-man took pity on me and my pathetic struggling, opening it with ease at such an angle where I couldn't see exactly how he did it. He didn't do that on purpose, he was just so tall… But it didn't matter, the drink was open now, and it really became evident to me, then, just how valiantly I was trying to avoid thinking about how Dog-man's grief over his loss mirrored mine with my sister's… Someone who I hadn't thought about in a long time. I hadn't forgotten about her — never her — but until now, I've had so many distractions that I didn't have to dwell on it, about what had happened. And honestly? I didn't want to.

I didn't want to remember the Flood that swept over the whole world because scientists had disturbed some ancient thing that had been laying dominant for countless ages in the chill of Antarctica. Some ancient force like a giant volcano or rift capable of making earthquakes so severe that resulting tsunamis were as big as the Empire State building, if not taller. That lower continents became half sunk and icebergs the size of countries were sent adrift. The rumors and stories that flew about some monster of unimaginable portions — the Kraken, Godzilla, and King Kong all rolled into one with a strong helping of ugly, just as credible as UFOs, Bigfoot, and the Loch Ness Monster. Of Mother Nature finally fighting back. The Government blaming Global Warming on the extreme temperature changes and natural disasters. The riots and mass evacs…

There not being enough room on the planes.

Not enough time to drive away before the Flood of the Great Lakes reached us.

Three Days, only three days… Our Last Days…

* * *

 **Day Thirty-Three.**

* * *

Oba-chan — _otherwise known as war paint lady_ — had stayed with us for the past few days. Mostly, I think, to keep watch over Dog-man and to help with the grieving process. By this point, I'm quite sure she's a family member of the deceased, who might have been either Dog-man's wife or girlfriend. I mean, Oba-chan acted like she was a sister to Dog-man, not someone who was intimate in that sense of the word with him. And because they looked nothing alike, well… It was a leap of faith based on what limited clues I could observe and get.

Oba-chan had taken over nearly everything in the house and refused to let Dog-man help. Even going so far as to forcibly sit him down on the couch and place me on his lap like a human paper weight while she went back to doing the laundry. She mother-henned the both of us and it almost felt like a sleepover while she was here — a nest of blankets, pillows, and futons in one of those large empty rooms with the tatami mat floors. At first, I thought it would be awkward, the three of us essentially cuddling with me stuck in the middle, but instead, it felt both safe and comforting… Almost faintly familiar as a flash of long black hair and haunting blue eyes gazed back at me, glowing out of the shadows that hid her — _because she could be nothing else but female_ — face from view.

Visions like that had been increasing in frequency. Some from home and others… Not. This time, Oba-chan was the one to comfort me, humming a tune that I had heard once long ago but couldn't place. It was easy to sleep. I didn't have any nightmares during the two nights she was here and neither did Dog-man.

I grew somewhat dependent on the reassurance that her mere presence so easily provided me, like it was filling in a hole that I never really realized was there until attention had been brought on it. She even took the time to teach me what must have been her name, something that not even Dog-man had done yet. Understandably, I was disappointed when she made the motions of preparing to leave. The nest we had been sleeping in was washed and all the materials in it being properly replaced. She was making one final big meal that could easily feed about fifteen people — _I say that with utter sincerity_ — likely with the intent to leave us plenty of leftovers, rightly assuming that Dog-man was a little culinary-challenged. She left various little notes plastered around the house randomly, all of them held up by an unseen force, as reminders. Oba-chan removed the extra toothbrush and clothes she used, packing them away.

All of it was evidence of her presence and proof that she would be removing herself from our immediate lives. Fortunately, for whatever reason, Oba-chan didn't instantly leave the moment she was done with her preparations, despite all her behavior that indicated that she was expecting or waiting for something — perhaps a dismissal or for Dog-man to finally start the goodbyes?

We learned what it was she was waiting for not long after it had turned to ten past noon. Dog-man's head jerked up and toward the door where there came a — _very loud_ — knock about half a minute later. He gave a long side-eyed look to Oba-chan, which she ignored in favor of getting up to answer the door, giving him a chance to replace his little black mask — because, apparently, the war-paint lady was an exception to that rule like I was. Curiously, I padded after the both of them to see who was at the door, but I had a pretty good idea already. That booming voice was unmistakable after all.

But still, it was just that we seldom had any visitors during my time here. Like, it's pretty much just been Oba-chan who ever visited the estate. Probably because the whole place was empty and — _as far as I knew_ — Dog-man didn't have any neighbors. I don't think that we even got a mailman or anything else like that, either.

Oba-chan was already talking to the person at the door which was revealed to be retro man in all his spandex glory with a rather large box covered in decorative paper. War-paint lady let him in and he immediately went over to Dog-man, foisting the large box into my caretaker's arms. Suspiciously, he asked, " _What is this for, Gai?_ "

" _A surprise, Eternal Rival! A glorious occasion to be had and enjoyed among friends with the intention of rekindling your dampened flames of Youth! Worry not, Kakashi, the winter is ending and spring is coming!_ " Retro man declared, slapping Dog-man on the back before going back to the door to take the bag out of the lady-who-was-standing-by-war-paint-lady's hands. " _Rei-pyon! I will take that for you!_ " Then he breezed past Dog-man and down the hallway to the living room.

" _Be careful with that, Hot Stuff,_ " the lady warned, turning her face to look in the direction retro man disappeared in, revealing the other side of her face which was horrifically scarred. The right side of her face had an old burn scar that stretched from upper corner of her forehead down at a slightly diagonal angle to her chin and lower jawbone. There were four separate rows of the burns, like someone had fingers made of fire and slashed them down her face. There was even a small mark on the bridge of her nose as if the thumb of the hand of fire nicked it slightly. Her right eye was still there, surprisingly, just lighter in color, the intense golden color that her left eye had being dimmed down to a fainter yellow-ish hue. Her long black hair was pinned up in a ballerina-esque bun.

Dog-man made a face and crossed his arms as he stared down Oba-chan who was deflecting his baleful look with ease, chattering cheerfully with the scarred lady. On their way past, the scarred lady picked me up and Dog-man pulled Oba-chan to the side, probably to ask for an explanation as he was just as surprised by these visitors as I was. My current handler took a seat on the couch with me in her lap and the two of us watched as retro man set up what looked like a banner with a sense of gusto that was almost uncalled for, for such a small task.

He hadn't changed much since I last saw him. Still had the appearance that reminded me of Bruce Lee with his bowl haircut, tanned skin, outrageously fit physique, and those weird poses that made no sense and had no purpose but to baffle everyone in the immediate vicinity. The only thing I couldn't confirm to complete the comparison was the beast-level skill in martial arts, but I wouldn't be surprised in the least if he was, considering he was a superhero and all. You certainly didn't get a body like that from dieting and sporadic exercising. And, of course, there was his spandex outfit. I did notice that he had that snail design from the coloring book on his belt, though. Was that the symbol for this place's version of the Justice League?

As I contemplated this, there came another knock on the door.

* * *

Currently, Kakashi had the sneaking suspicion that this had all been planned from the start. He wasn't sure who's idea it was to begin with — although he suspected that Ngai was the one who originally revealed Fune's existence to their peers and that one thing had merely led to another. Obviously, Kozō-chan took an affirmative action in deciding for herself to watch over him and make sure he didn't do the very thing Yui had warned him not to do. She just had the secondary motive of being the inside agent so the rest had an access point to an otherwise inaccessible fortress… Well, inaccessible if they continued to go about entering in the straightforward and somewhat polite manner that they were.

He had his suspicions after Tenzō joined in on the mix, as he did end up explaining after a little guilt tripping on Kakashi's part. It was nice to know that it would work for other things than just getting his kōhai to sometimes foot the bill. Apparently, the purpose of this 'surprise' was threefold: celebrate Fune's belated first birthday, congratulate Kakashi on becoming a father, and to remind Kakashi that he should look to the future and not always reflect on the past.

It was at this moment that the teen realized that he should quit while he was still ahead, as there wouldn't be a way to prevent or avoid the impromptu party — and honestly, there was a part of him that was looking forward to and grateful for it. The other four adults that were currently present were just relieved that he wasn't fighting social interaction like he usually did. Part of it might have been because they were, in a way, holding his daughter hostage, but the end justified the means.

Speaking of his daughter, she was currently staring intently at Tenzō as Rei held her. Kakashi briefly wondered if she recognized something about the man from when she met him as Wolverine. Did small children even remember that long? He would have to ask Inoichi when he arrived, since according to the others, the Yamanaka was one of about eight more visitors.

The ex-Root member took Fune from Rei arms and held her instead. He had taken to petting Fune's head like a small dog and — _instead of the disgruntled expression Kakashi had been expecting_ — she let out a delighted sounding coo, relaxing against Tenzō with a look of utter contentment. His kōhai had a pleased expression on his face before he took a better look her appearance, which made a humored expression cross it. He remarked, " _It's rather… surprising how much the two of you look alike, Senpai. I wonder if she would exactly like you if we added a mask and a hitai-ate._ " It was meant as a joke but the moment Ngai made a choking sound, Kakashi just knew that this was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

" _Well, actually, Gai already saw the result of that and mistook Fune-chan for me —_ "

" _— I didn't know you had a child, Kakashi! It was a simple mistake —_ "

" _— Panicked and thought I was under a curse —_ "

" _— Well, what else was I supposed to think —_ "

" _— And tried to take her to the hospital only for her to bite him —_ "

" _— Her teeth were very sharp! And she has the grip of a vise —_ "

The lively narration of the encounter was interrupted by another knock at the door, fortunately enough for Ngai, who had been saved not by the bell but by Inoichi Yamanaka, Ino Yamanka, and Ibiki Morino. Another two wrapped boxes were added to the small pile. " _I wasn't quite sure what to bring_ ," the Head of Interrogations admitted. " _So I let Ino-chan decide_."

" _Mine is meant more for you than the kid,_ " Ibiki added. " _You would make better use of it._ "

" _You really didn't have to,_ " Kakashi remarked, watching Ino toddle over to where Tenzō and Fune were seated on the floor by the couch. " _I doubt Fune-chan would have noticed._ "

" _Hello_ ," Ino giggled with a tiny wave which Fune shyly returned before burying her face in Tenzō's shoulder.

" _At this age, it's more for the adults than anything_ ," Inoichi agreed before nodding at the only current occupant on the couch. " _Good to see you, Rei-san_."

" _Likewise, Inoichi-san. How's Noriko-san been doing since I last visited?_ "

" _The shop has been keeping her more than a little busy with the Harvest Moon festival coming up soon and everyone buying autumn flowers and pampas grass. Actually, she's working now and apologizes for not being able to come_."

Kakashi waved it off, dryly stating, " _Considering that I wasn't expecting anyone to come today, let alone there being a party of any kind, it's fine._ " And it really was fine. The teen ANBU felt content as he observed Rei going to help his teammate in the kitchen, half-listened to Ibiki and Ngai discuss about the last prisoner report that the Green Beast had turned with certain vocabulary being used, and participated in a conversation between himself, Inoichi, and Tenzō concerning the memory of small children as well as general development. Something that, admittedly, both Kakashi and Tenzō knew little of.

Apparently, while it wasn't generally common, young children Fune's age could recognize a person's voice that they met about a month ago. In high stress situations, they could even imprint on people who provide comfort to them. While that explained how Fune took a liking to Kakashi back when she only knew him as the ANBU Dog, this meant that she had a good enough memory to connect Tenzō's voice with that of the ANBU Wolverine as she hadn't seen Wolverine take off his mask. Then there was also the argument of scent being a contributing factor, as young children — _especially those whose parents have a strong, dog-like sense of smell whether because they are a summoner or they're an Inuzuka_ — have a strong scent memory to scents that are related to strong memories or emotions. So there was a possibility that she recognized Tenzō's scent as well. Both were theories that Kakashi would test at a later time, memory recall and sense of smell.

At some point, Yui with her son, Kouki, and Mikoto with her two sons, Itachi and Sasuke, arrived. The three boys took to joining the two girls, leaving Tenzō utterly surrounded by children. Ino and Itachi were on either side of him, with Sasuke sitting half on his brother's lap and half on Tenzō's. Fune had moved so that she was seated in the middle of the Wood-user's lap like she was in a chair. And Kouki had taken to slumping over Tenzō's shoulder from his perch on the couch behind the — _officially_ — chūnin. This left Kakashi with the humorous image of a cat lady draped with felines.

After exchanging pleasantries, the two mothers congregated to the kitchen to join the other two kunoichi where Kakashi could hear chatter and delighted laughter. Currently in the living room where he was, someone had started telling that story about one of the more eccentric shinobi who had a tendency to burrow holes to sleep in when on long missions, and how, during an ambush, one of the enemy ninja fell right to the hole, only to land in the figurative lion's den.

While a debate about the strangest mission sleeping habits began to develop — Kakashi volunteering the "bed of needles" sleeping arrangement involving countless senbon that he saw a foreign shinobi rest in — the cloud of children took to running around the house, leaving Tenzō looking faintly disappointed under the mask of stoicism. The eldest Hatake dearly hoped that someone took a picture of the previous seating arrangement of the children. It would make for terrific blackmail or a bribe depending on the circumstances.

Smirking at the thought, he braved the kitchen in search of some early snacks. After all, if he was going to be the host of this unexpected party then at least he could snitch some food before it went out on the table. Mikoto, Yui, and Rei were leaning against the cabinets, discussing the benefits and drawbacks of the different types of ninja wire while Kozō-chan added the gomashio to the sekihan. Speaking of the red bean rice, there was a particularly delectable-looking plate of tsukimi dango sitting innocently nearby the pot. Kakashi calculated the risk versus the reward, and ultimately decided it was worth it.

His hand flashed out to snag one of the dango, only for a wooden spoon to whack him on the incriminating hand. Retracting the wounded appendage, Kakashi did a mock-pout, " _But-But Kozō-chan_ —"

" _No_ ," she interrupted, utterly unmoved from the pitiful look he gave her. " _You can wait with everyone else_."

Mikoto snickered, " _Looks like you trained him well_ , Kozō-chan."

The brunette narrowed her eyes and brandished the wooden spoon at the Uchiha, her mock-scowl making her clan markings stand out starkly, " _Don't you start, too. It just encourages him_."

Yui snickered before turning to the white-haired teen. " _Why don't you take this out to the others? The food should be done pretty soon anyway._ " Aoko's best friend handed him a tray with several cups of tea on it. Realizing that he was currently unlikely to snitch a snack in the near future until it was time to actually eat the meal, Kakashi slumped in defeat and skulked out of the kitchen. He set the tray on the low table before taking a seat on the floor next to Tenzō and taking a cup for himself.

Of course, it was about this time when one Anko Mitarashi made her grand entrance, bursting through the sliding pouch door that lead to the outside garden. " _Alright, I made it! Now we can get this party started!_ " Her loud outburst and kicking open the door made all five children let out 'eep's' of varying volume, and Fune even went so far as to dive behind the couch. Idly, Kakashi watched as Kouki and Sasuke joined her behind it in the attempt to coax her back out when nothing further happened. Itachi stood guard watchfully by the 'entrance' to the couch while Ino ducked her head behind it to add her input without actually crawling behind the furniture. The purple-haired teen took stock of who was in the room and groaned, " _Ugh, I'm the last one? This sucks!_ "

" _It's not a problem,_ " Kakashi told her mildly. " _I wasn't expecting one to happen at all, so it hardly matters if you're a little late._ "

" _I did tell you that you should have come with me and Inoichi_ ," Ibiki grumbled. " _Stubborn brat._ "

" _Oh, butt out, old man. At least I got here before the food was served, and besides, I needed to find the perfect thing to get for a mini-Hatake pipsqueak_ ," Anko brushed off before tossing a small box at Kakashi which he caught deftly. " _There, add that to the pile, yeah?_ "

" _Thanks_ ," he told her and placed it on the modest pile of wrapped gifts. Then he suggested before a bicker-fest could break out, " _I believe the food is about done, anyway. Why don't we head over to the dining room._.." As the other adults stood up and began to shuffle out of the room, the teen ANBU reached over the back of the couch and pulled Fune up with ease, wherein the two boys behind the couch and his little girl let out squeals of surprise. " _Come on_ ," he told them as the rest crawled out from the hiding spot. " _Time to eat_."

And what a spread it was. Tonkatsu with shredded cabbage, a small pot of curry on the side as an option to be eaten on the tonkatsu, his favorite eggplant miso soup, some tsukemono, and, of course, sekihan as it wouldn't be a celebration without it. The tsukimi dango for dessert were a nice touch, as it was a gentle reminder of the upcoming festival.

Having some of his close friends and people who were close to Aoko being here together with him, made Kakashi happier than he had been all week since the stone carving ceremony and the reminder he had gotten from the Hokage... But he didn't forget what he was called to do and now was the time to shift gears, return to an ANBU mindset. Kozō-chan had already done so much, so Kakashi couldn't ask her, but there was one other person he knew he could ask. He approached Yui when they had a short moment alone in the kitchen, putting away the dishes. " _Yui, if it wouldn't be too much trouble, could you watch Fune for a day? I'm back on the roster._ "

* * *

 **So, Gai's dad in canon is Maito** **Duy... Duy is a Vietnamese name, so it figures that Gai would also be Vietnamese in heritage but be named accordingly. So a found a name similar to his canon one: Ngai. Maito was originally a dual surname, Mai-To, back in the Warring Clan Era, but just like in American history where immigrant names were misinterpreted and written down wrong or "simplified" so too happened to a lot of people during the founding of Konoha.**

 **Mai-To became Maito. And Shen-Yu (chinese) became Senju. And Yuja (korean) became Hyūga. A lot of modifications and messing with canon will happen in the future. I'll draw attention to it and explain more as time goes on. It's alllll AU, baby.**

* * *

 **Vocabulary:**

 **Shunshin – Body Flicker technique. Appears as if the ninja teleported, usually a puff of smoke or other distractions (such as leaves) will mask their movement in this technique.**

 **Yosh – An interjection of enthusiasm/excitement. Similar to "alright/all right!".**

 **Saisho wa guu – Literal translation is "starting with rock" in the popular game of "Janken".**

 **Janken – Literally means "two fists". Japanese version of "Rock Paper Scissors". If there is ever a clash of opinion, usually this game is utilized to avoid a potentially embarrassing or awkward situation.**

 **Pon –** **An onomatopoeiac word (basically, a sound effect) for a toss or throw.**

 **Aiko de** **sho – Basically means "It's a draw". Aiko means "draw" while sho is another onomatopoeiac word that doesn't really have a direct translation into English.**

 **Tamagoyaki – It's basically a rolled omelet. I've made it a few times myself and let me tell you, it's tricky to make in a skillet. The only difference in the ingredients from a regular omelet is that sugar and/or soysauce can be added to the beaten egg. I personally just add sugar into the actual mixture and if I feel like it, will grease the pan with soy sauce, but I usually only grease the pan with soy sauce afterwards and then cook the spam in it. A nice contrast in the sweet egg and the salted meat.**

 **'Kaa-chan - Okaa (or 'kaa) is mom. Okaa-san/'Kaa-san would be more reserved than the more cutesy okaa-chan/'kaa-chan.**

 **Daijoubu – I've seen the translation be flipped between "it's alright" and "it's okay", but the general meaning is the same.**

 **Oba-chan – Oba (or simply "ba") is aunt, but depending on the suffix, the nuance and connotation may change slightly. With a "san" added, it's a more reserved manner of address, might be used to call out to a middle aged woman you are already familiar with. With a "chan" added, it's more cutesy, similar to saying "auntie", usually would only say this to someone if you are young, they prefer being called that, or you are close to them.**

 **-pyon –** **An honorific that, when used, indicates that the speaker is being very cutesy/sweet/lovey-dovey with the person he or she is addressing.**

 **Kozō – Someone with particularly nimble fingers. Accepted translation is a pickpocket.**

 **Kōhai – Underclassmen, lower seniority than the speaker. Almost entirely used as a standalone honorific, since it is considered rude to attach the term to a name.**

 **Senpai – Mentor or senior. Can be used as a standalone honorific or as an attachment.**

 **Hitai** **-** **ate – Literal means "forehead protector" but is just an over glorified head band with a village symbol on a metal plate and lots of connotation behind it.**

 **Gomashio – Basically a grounded mixture of sesame seeds and salt.**

 **Sekihan –** **A traditional Japanese dish. It is sticky rice steamed with adzuki beans, which give a reddish color to the rice. Often served on special occasions throughout the year, like birthdays, weddings, and some holidays, such as Shichi-Go-San. Sekihan is so strongly connected with celebrations that the phrase "Let's have** **sekihan** **" has acquired the meaning "Let's celebrate." Probably because of its red color, the symbol of happiness in Japan.**

 **Tsukimi dango – Rice dumplings that are especially made for the holiday "O-Tsukimi", the Harvest Moon Festival. On that day, they are given as an offering to the moon with pumpkin and chestnuts. But they can be eaten too.**

 **Tonkatsu –** **Breaded, deep-fried pork cutlet that's usually served with shredded cabbage. I like adding the Bulldog brand vegetable & fruit tonkatsu sauce.**

 **Tsukemono –** **Japanese preserved vegetables (usually pickled in salt, brine,** **or a bed of rice bran). They can be served with rice as a side dish.**

* * *

 **The snail symbol is actually the Konoha leaf symbol. Admit it, you thought it was a snail too back when you first saw it.**

 **The fan inside the four-point star is actually the symbol for the Konoha police force, but Fune doesn't know this. She just noticed the fan that's the crest for the Uchiha clan is the same as the fan for the police force. She just made the erroneous guess of it meaning the Uchiha are a noble or royal clan. Which they aren't. Despite what some would like to think.**

 **The "chocolate cinnamon buns with powdered sugar" is a variation of a dessert known as babka.**

 **The bottle Fune mentioned is a popular soda drink called 'Ramune'. It comes in various flavors and is recommended that an adult open the drink for the child (or just people who are incapable of following the instructions on the bottle).**

* * *

 **A/N: Well, there you have it. Kakashi is finally off of paternity leave, and Fune needs babysitters for the time being. Next chapter will be about her time interacting with other people besides just Kakashi. And maybe we will get to learn a little more about war-paint lady/ Oba-chan/ Kozō-chan. Any theories or guesses? I'm interested.**

 **And, yes, Fune has avoidance issues and would rather not deal with the looming elephant in the room. But I did throw you lot a bone with that paragraph and more than a few hints. Hopefully that should tide you all over until we get to that point in the story.**


	5. Surely Someday

For surely someday,  
We'll be together once again.  
I know that this is not the end.  
We'll meet again, my friend.

\- Surely Someday, Adriana Figueroa (2014).

* * *

"English, what our main character speaks."

 _"Japanese, what everyone else speaks unless otherwise stated."_

'Thoughts.'

* * *

 **Note: Each elemental nation has it's own personal language. For the common tongue, the language is vaguely similar to Mandarin Chinese except archaic in its usage. Also, much like in Quebec, Canada; where children learn both Canadian French as well as English, so do the children in the Land of Fire learn the pseudo-Japanese and pseudo-Chinese. This is in part because of the founding clans; the Senju** **(Shen-Yu)** **is Chinese in origin and the Uchiha is Japanese in origin.**

 **For the Land of Fire, the national language is Japanese, but if speaking formally at work/on-duty or to strangers, Chinese is the default.**

 **This is the last chapter where you'll see this note, next chapter Fune will know more of the common language(s) enough where English will be phased out but will be mentioned occasionally.**

* * *

 **Day Forty-two.**

* * *

When Dog-man had stopped cleaning the house again and came back into the room I was in, I looked up curiously from where I was idly messing with the soft stuffed dog I was given a few days ago. He was in uniform, but not the one I first saw him wearing as the superhero extraordinaire with Mr. Badger as a sidekick. This one was reminiscent of the outfit those wall guards wore. A kind of bland olive green that was a bit ugly to be honest, and that swirly red dot on the back of it surely didn't help matters from the vest placing a target on any superhuman who wore it. But now he was wearing that shiny eyepatch thing with the snail symbol on it, and I had to admit, despite the ugly military vest, he looked cooler than usual. "Nice!"

He looked at me in interest, asking indulgently, " _Naisu?_ "

"Nice," I corrected patiently.

" _Naisi_ ," he chortled to himself, likely thinking the compliment to be incomprehensible baby-talk. I pouted.

He ruffled my hair, which I rather liked, before turning back to his task: packing. Or, at least, the superhero-lite version of packing. Closer inspection revealed to me that he was putting his actual superhero uniform — porcelain dog mask and all — on top on the scroll before making it all vanish. Delighted by the seemingly magic trick, I clapped. "Ooh," I cooed in awe. "Wow!"

He snorted good-naturedly, a smile hidden behind the back of his hand as he snickered in Japanese, " _You sure are easy to impress, Fune-chan_."

I said nothing in response, toddling over to the desk and gripping the edge to haul myself up to peer over the top of it, hoping to get a closer look if he used more super powers. Dog-man watched me with a bemused expression but only rolled up the small scroll, unsnapped one of the six clasps on the vest and place the scroll in one of the long narrow pockets before re-snapping it. Grabbing an empty black backpack, he made to leave the room. I let out a huff of disappointment and let go of the table to land flat on my feet. Not wanting to let him off so easily, I pitter-pattered after the retreating adult, following him up the stairs and into our shared room.

I watched intensively as he placed a pair of pajamas and day clothes for me inside the bag before also placing a few toys I was given from that party into it too. He, of course, ignored the rubber replicas of those weird knifes that were similar to the real one he had to confiscate from me once upon a time. I think he didn't want me to get any ideas but also didn't want to throw away a perfectly good gift. I would say it was because that weapons were traditionally toys for boys, like cars or monsters or superheroes were, but giving me stereotypical boy-things didn't seem to bother him before — case in point being my entire wardrobe. So, it was probably something else. Maybe he just didn't want me to become violent and turn into one of those supervillains he had to fight or something.

Well, he could rest in peace. Despite my mischievousness and occasional need to create chaos or panic, I'm not actually evil. Might be a bit of a brat, but definitely not malicious, fortunately enough for him. Didn't mean that I couldn't come up with some truly wicked pranks, though, hee hee hee…

…Dear God, I was a right menace to him wasn't I? If he wasn't already white haired, I probably would have made him go prematurely grey from stress.

He zipped up the bag and swept out of the room again with me right on his tail, running as fast as my little legs could waddle. Glancing over his shoulder, he spotted me toddling after him and guffawed, eyes crinkling at the corners. Possibly to annoy me, he picked up the pace, forcing me to go faster, only for him to speed up again until the both of us were sprinting through the halls.

Well, I was, at least. He was somewhere between a glide and a jog, always just barely out of reach and laughing the whole while. He zipped down the stairs which I carefully climbed down, taking a moment to catch my breath. If there was ever a moment for my asthma to kick in, it would be now… But it wasn't. Sure, I was huffing and puffing, but that was because I didn't have much energy and was generally out of shape. The lack of consequences from the sprinting unsettled me, since if I did a flat out sprint after a long period of general inactivity, I would feel winded and begin to feel the strain in my lungs after about a minute. Currently, I felt fine, as if I had had went out on a paced run in the early morning with several months of gradually built up stamina…

But I was going to have to act as if an asthma attack was imminent, because there was no way that I could be positively sure that I would get the medical attention needed without the inhaler and me being so young. Good day or not, I wasn't going to take that chance, because even a good day at this age always had the potential of me ending up hospitalized, even back at home. It certainly didn't escape my notice how this new place I found myself in was in some ways less advanced than home had been. I wouldn't risk it, especially considering how hard it had been for me to breathe during my first week here — although, it had gotten better on its own, as if I had grown accustomed to the once-thick air here.

I took a deep breath of said air through my nose, and forced myself to take deep, measured breathes in a bid to regain control of my breathing. Carefully, climbing down the last step of the stairs and now being on the main floor, I gazed around before releasing an almost disdainful sniff. If that was how it was going to be, then it would only be fair to play along for the moment before exacting vengeance. Jump scares were no laughing matter.

Turning right, I padded down the hallway, fully expecting Dog-man to be hidden just around the corner by the entryway where he likely deposited the black backpack — just as he had done the other times the bag was in use and packed. Not seeing him where I expected him to be only made me raise my figurative hackles more. 'Fine, two can play at this game,' I thought to myself with a grumble.

Spinning around to inspect the kitchen, I was confronted with Dog-man's grinning face as he crouched down to my level. I jolted back in surprise, startled by his sudden appearance — as he had not been there a moment ago. Unfortunately, I hadn't retreated fast enough to avoid his long arms lashing out and tickling my unprotected flanks. I squealed, writhing and squirming in the hopes to escape, but he was unrelenting. "Bwahaha! St — haha — op!" I begged between shrieks of laughter. " _Noooo_! Ahahaha!"

I wasn't the most ticklish person in the world, having gotten accustomed and jaded to it from all the tickle-attacks throughout my life, but this? No, this was a whole new level of tickling. There was no possible way for me to resist with his long fingers jabbing me in my sides, armpits, and belly, whatever became exposed when I tried to protect an area with my little arms. Dropping to the floor and curling up into a ball didn't help either; I remained a helpless, quivering pile of limbs and giggles. Flailing like a fish out of water, I rolled between the gap of his legs, fully taking advantage of my small size to clear out under him and scramble away.

Forget conserving my energy, if he caught me again with his trice-damned bony fingers, he would tickle me to death. No doubt about it.

Somehow, someway, I managed to slip past his grasp and back out the kitchen, making sure to cut corners and run under the table, using my size to my utmost advantage. He was right behind me, I could hear him with his playful growls and roars, as if he was some kind of demon or monster about to get me. Obviously, if he caught me, he would eat me alive. I was too adorable to not be gobbled up right away. Not that I knew exactly what I looked like, since I hadn't seen myself in a proper mirror lately, but from what I remember of the pictures of me as a little girl back home, I was a cute baby. So, it was safe to say that I probably qualified as the perfect treat for some demon hound to devour whole. I giggled hysterically at the turn my thoughts had taken. 'Looks like demon hounds like to play with their food, he hasn't caught me yet, and there's no way that I'm faster than Dog-man.'

Spotting a safe-zone, I dove under the couch, wiggling further in to pull myself out of reach.

As if that would stop him.

A point that was proven when he just picked up the couch instead, one handed, pulled me out by a squirming foot with his free hand. The show off. And cheater. Sooo unfair. I let out a yelp and a squeal when, after he put down the couch, growled, " _now, I've got you_ ", and blew a quick raspberry on my exposed tummy.

"No, nooo," I shrieked with laughter, unable to stop or resist his attacks as all the blood continued to rush to my head from my upside-down position. " _Stooop_!"

Eventually, he took pity on me and stopped tickling me, probably because my face might have been turning blue from lack of air between my hysterical giggles. Collapsing on the couch with me bouncing on his stomach, he let out a huge sigh, relaxing as he gave my hair a ruffle. I, obligingly, scowled at him to which he smirked at. He tapped me on the nose once and his smirk turned into a smile at my confused look. Reaching up, he selected a book from the shelf hanging on the wall above us. He settled into a more comfortable position on the couch, cradling me and the book with one arm while he lazily reached across the floor with the other and picked up the stuffed dog I had abandoned earlier in favor of following Dog-man around the place.

Handing it back to me to cuddle with, he turned his attention to his book, absently rubbing my back with on hand in a soothing motion. Taking this as a signal to relax, I went limp and stopped trying to protect my vulnerable sides from his long fingers. While I fidgeted to get into a more comfortable position, my eyes happened to catch sight of something shiny in my peripheral.

Dog tags.

For some reason this struck me as funny, but it did make sense. Superhero or not, he worked for whatever passed as military here and needed something to identify himself should anything happen while he was on the field. Gently tugging the chain with the aforementioned tags closer, I scrutinized them more carefully. Still couldn't understand anything, though. It was writing in the same script that everything else seemed to be written in, not that I honestly expected anything different…

'Oh, what's this?' I thought to myself, my attention zeroing in on a little ring band that was also on the chain. It was a plain dark metal with tiny little designs of Dog-man's crest and a little swirl between each impression of the crest. The seemed to be some writing on the inside of the ring, but I couldn't make it out. Maybe Dog-man did used to be married? Or perhaps that was a family ring, considering it had the insignia or crest on it? 'Hard to tell for sure.' I fiddled with it a little longer before dropping it back onto its resting place against Dog-man's collarbone, no longer interested.

Making myself comfortable once more, as it seemed that my guardian wouldn't be letting go anytime soon, I closed my eyes and let my mind drift, day dreaming about having superpowers of my own and what I would do with them if I had any.

* * *

Fune only grasped just what, exactly, was occurring, when Kakashi knocked on the door to the apartment in front of them and Yui answered the door with a curious Kouki peering out behind her legs. She was both surprised and vaguely alarmed when she realized that she didn't want to be left alone on a playdate with a stranger and their kid. It was the kind of realization that left you questioning yourself when you noticed that you weren't quite as independent as you once thought. What was even worse was that Fune knew that she was even more attached to Kakashi than she was the last time this happened at the hospital.

And Yui was very quick to figure out that the little woman-turned toddler was sulking — _not that Fune would ever admit such a thing, even if she could talk_ — and enlisted Kouki in keeping her busy. He had been eager at first, thinking the pale-haired girl to be a new playmate, she was just his age…! But she was terrible at playing ninja, couldn't even talk, and just stared at him uncomprehendingly whenever he spoke to her. She wasn't very fun at all, just boring. Was the other kid broken or something?

"' _Kaa-san_ ," the boy whined, pout in place and at full power. " _Is she stupid or somethin'_?"

" _Kouki-kun! That's not a nice thing to say,_ " the blonde scolded, putting down the scissors that she had been using to trim some dead leaves off the potted plant.

" _But she is! She can't talk or nothin'!_ " Kouki insisted, a scowl overtaking his expression now. " _Just stares at me, I don't like it!_ "

" _'Or anything'_ ," Yui absently corrected with a frown before she smoothed it over, an idea coming to her. " _Fune-chan is only having trouble because she hasn't learned how to talk yet. If you're so bored, maybe you can teach her, ne?_ "

The brunette considered it sullenly for a moment, the gears shifting in his head before reaching a decision. His mom had always possessed the patience to help him with learning — _which, he inwardly admitted, had never been his strong point_ — and he had always been grateful for it. Well, as much as a kid his age could be thankful for something usually taken for granted, which was mostly adoration and happiness for her attention. The idea that he could be like her and teach someone else just his mother, filled him with determination. He wanted to impress Yui, get praised for doing such a good job, complimented for being a 'responsible boy', and acknowledged by that stu… er, _ignorant_ pale-haired girl.

Nodding with the utmost seriousness, Kouki raced over to Fune and flagged down her attention. Pointing at her, he said her name slowly before pointing as himself and enunciating the two syllables with utter deliberation. Grey eyes squinted at him with barely veiled amusement before Fune dutifully parroted back, "Kouki!"

Letting out an exclamation of victory, he whirled to face his mother expectantly.

She smiled. " _Very good, Kouki-kun. How responsible of you for helping your friend!_ "

Puffing up with pride, the little boy grabbed his age-mate's hand and dragged her after him, pointing out anything and everything they came across while proclaiming their name and refusing to move on until Fune repeated the labels correctly.

Yui observed the proceeding with more than a little amusement, vaguely reminded of the girl's mother, Aoko, with that expression crossing the toddler's face. Quiet exasperation filled with patient indulgence. It was strange to witness on one so young, but it wasn't something consciously controlled, just something learned from continual exposure, like that bright smile she wore. God, she looked so much like the late kunoichi. Despite most of her features taking after her father, Fune was her mother's daughter.

A twinge of sadness tugged at the blonde, her hands pausing in their pruning as she carefully lowered the scissors once more. First her husband and now her closest friend… Fate really wasn't kind to her, was it?

Memories of mischievous blue eyes twinkling under a cloud of black hair, bubbling laughter reminiscent of a flowing spring, and weathered skin turned an olive tan from the sun. If Yui sniffed carefully, she could smell freshly dug dirt and the scent of herbs… but, no, it was just the potted rosemary and lavender in front of her, not the remembered fragrance of her friend. Besides, Aoko had also smelled faintly of oil paints and soup broth from her last meal, not just the underlying earthy tones.

Her nostalgia and lingering grief was running away with her thoughts again.

Shaking herself from their metaphorical clawing grip, the blonde went in the kitchen to start working on dinner. Nothing like viciously chopping vegetables to vent pent up emotion. And from there, she was somewhat successful in redirecting her attention elsewhere. Leftover tonkatsu from yesterday was made into perfect katsudon curry for that night; savory and filling with enough plain curry for tomorrow's lunch as well. She would add the stewed beef she cooked and set aside tonight then for the meat inside of the breaded and fried pork cutlet.

Dinner passed pleasantly, Kouki watching in surprise as Fune wielded the tiny child-sized chopsticks with ease, instead of having the bad habit of spearing her food like most toddlers her age. Yui listening contently as Kouki relayed all that he had been able to teach the little girl with the occasional, monosyllable interjection from the toddler in question. Laughter and chatter flowed easily, only beginning to peter out near the end of the meal, and while neither kid yawned, the mother could tell that both were wearied.

Directing the two of them to troop up the stairs to the bathroom, she followed behind to ensure neither one of them slipped and took a tumble. Kouki was quick to throw open the door to the white tiled room and pull out the stepping stool by the corner, placing it by the sink and climbing on top of it. He then reached forward as far as he could to get his toothbrush, one leg dangling over the side while he gripped the counter edge to help maintain his balance.

The little girl let out a snort followed by several stifled giggles at the sight, pitter-pattering over to the brunette and gripping the sink edge to haul herself up high enough to peer over the counter, her tippy-toes just barely touching the floor. Yui had to stifle laughter of her own at her charge's expression of shock at the identical pair of eyes gazing back through the mirror. Fune reached up to wave at the mirror, as if to greet the other child before stopping, instead electing to prod and examine her reflection. Somehow, the off-duty kunoichi wasn't surprised that the toddler hadn't seen her reflection or, at least, remembered seeing it. It was only after a certain age the children understood what reflections truly where after all.

Retrieving the toothbrush that Kakashi had given her to use for Fune, the ninja-mother waved the little girl over and — _after applying the paste, of course_ — started brushing the toddler's teeth for her. Fune let out a surprised choking sound and her face morphed into one of annoyance, but she didn't fight Yui's administrations. Tolerating it and refraining from automatically swallowing the paste like Kouki used to do before he learned that it wasn't a good idea. 'Wao,' Yui thought to herself with a little bit of awed wonder. 'I didn't realize that Kakashi trained her so well and so young too! I supposed I shouldn't be too surprised considering he trained most of his summons himself when he was still in the academy… Little children and puppies have much the same desires when they're his young.'

After that, it was a simple matter of getting the two children into their pajamas and into bed, cleaning the mess downstairs, and reading a book before Yui called it a night herself.

The next morning was a bit more subdued, as Fune was up startlingly early, shocking Yui who was used to most children her age sleeping until sun had been up for at least a couple hours. " _Good morning_ ," she greeted after a paused.

" _M-Morn…ing…?_ " Fune attempted to parrot back before trailing off, the rest of the phrase escaping her.

" _Good morning,_ " the blonde carefully repeated and was pleasantly surprised at the somewhat coherent result. Yui didn't even remotely believe that the toddler would be able to remember all the terms she learned yesterday and any she learned today, but some would likely stick and more would sink in with practice.

Keeping one eye on Fune, Yui turned back to making little apple rabbits for breakfast before a tiny voice asked after a minute or two passed, " _Can I have?_ "

The older woman stopped to look down in surprise, seeing a dainty hand reaching up in askance, grey eyes watching her face to judge her reaction to the words. After a moment, the mother corrected, " _Can I have, 'please', Fune-chan, 'please'._ "

The white-haired girl considered the words for a moment before her eyes lit up and asked somewhat excitedly, " _Please?_ " And — _while Yui didn't understand her_ — Fune then exclaimed to herself what basically amounted to ' _please_ means please' in a mixture of Japanese and English. Obligingly, Yui handed her a completed apple rabbit before teaching her the word 'thank you', somewhat bemused over the girl's excitement.

'I didn't realized that she liked apples that much... I suppose I'll make a few more of those for her to snack on before breakfast,' came the thought as she watched Fune run off into the other room before returning to cut up more apples.

Fune, meanwhile, crunched on the vaguely rabbit-shaped apple slice while she reviewed what she learned yesterday. Now that Kouki, her eager and adorable-in-a-scruffy-sort-of-way teacher, was no longer bombarding her with terms and dragging her around like a ragdoll, she could actually take the time to quiz herself with her memory. Simple things like a lamp, a couch, or even a window... The idea that she now had a label to call them by, one that would be understood by those around her, was freeing.

Idly examining the pictures on the wall, she quietly recited terms under her breath as her eyes flickered from person to person before resting on one where it showed a group picture. There was Kouki's mom, Dog-man, several people from the party, and a woman who Fune never actually met in person but was familiar in a way that itched insistently.

Blue eyes so dark that they remind her of night and a mane of curly black hair…

'I don't know her,' she reaffirmed to herself with a frown. 'But I swear I've seen her somewhere before…' Staring accusingly at the picture revealed nothing of interest, nor did the memory suddenly reemerge, but an idea did occur to her. While she couldn't exactly be sure of its accuracy, she could always just ask her host for confirmation.

Pulling a chair over and climbing on top of it, Fune carefully took down the picture frame from its resting place on the wall. Rolling off the furniture, she took her time walking back to the kitchen in order to avoid tripping over her own feet and breaking it. Tugging the older woman's dress to gain her attention, the woman-turn-child asked, " _Kashishi_?", before pointing specifically at her guardian.

Fune had heard that word — name? — used many times in reference to 'Dog-man' with him responding to it every time it was used. She wasn't entirely sure it was right, but this was why she was asking Kouki's mom, so she could be given the right name. Because Fune didn't want to embarrass herself in front of the one person she actually cared the opinion of.

Yui, meanwhile, looked down and blinked in surprise. She wasn't quite sure how the toddler managed to reach the picture, but there it was. Absently, she corrected, " _No, 'chi-chi', Fune-chan. That's your 'chi-chi'._ "

" _Chi-chi?_ "

" _Yes, chi-chi_."

Fune nodded solemnly before pointing at the woman whose identity had been bothering her, " _What this?_ "

A pained expression briefly crossed the blonde's face — _because, of course, the little girl would recognize her own mother and ask_ — and was carefully smoothed into one of polite blankness, a perfectly sculpted smile taking residence there. "' _Ha-Ha', Fune-chan, 'ha-ha'._ "

" _Ha…Ha?_ " The grey-eyed girl was unsure about this one — _because who has laughter as a name?_ — but, then again, it was entirely possible that 'ha-ha' being used in this context had a completely different meaning and connotation here. Especially when, here, 'hi' meant 'yes'. So, she merely nodded with the utmost serious and committed those names to memory.

Kakashi's reaction to being called what basically amounted to 'papa' when he returned to pick up Fune was priceless. The man had nearly been in tears and was red enough to rival an Uzumaki's natural hair color.

* * *

 **Day Fifty-Seven.**

* * *

I watched with some surprise as Chi-chi donned the very same uniform that he had first found me in, bone-white dog mask and all. And my surprise only grew from there when he used his magical superpowers to summon a whole pack of dogs from literally thin air. I counted eight: a pug, a bulldog the size of a short horse, a collie, a greyhound, a shiba inu, a couple mutts of some kind, and what looked like a rat terrier.

I stared in stunned amazement at them as Chi-chi seemed to explain something to them — although, what, I couldn't tell, since I hadn't been paying attention. My eyes nearly bugged out when the ragtag group almost appeared to be laughing at him, chortling yips and yelps with doggy smirks and all. More than a little freaky to witness. Chi-chi huffed before scolding them, " _Yes, yes, very funny, I'm sure. Still doesn't change the fact that I need you to watch Fune for the day. I fully expect the six of you to be able to handle a two-year-old just fine and to not come home to discover chaos. Pakkun's in charge while I'm gone; I'll be back later tonight. Lunch and dinner is in the fridge._ "

The pack of dogs barked in sync, almost as if they were barking an affirmative. The freakiness level heightened just that much more.

He stared them down for a moment longer before giving a sharp nod of acceptance. Turning to face me now, Chi-chi reached out and ruffled my hair with the firm reminder of 'be good'. Mission accomplished in messing my hair into something resembling a bird's nest, he turned to leave, making me panic and attempt to stop him by clutching on to his legs like a little monkey, crying, " _No! Don't go! Nooo! Please!_ " Unable to communicate my distress in that language, I continue in English, wailing, "Don't leave me with all the dogs! Where are you going?! Why are you leaving me with only dogs?!"

" _Ah, don't look at me like that!_ " Chi-chi whined, covering his eyes with a hand as he avoided looking at the utterly pitiful look I sent him. Trying to placate me, he continued, " _I won't be able to make it back while it's still light out, but I'll come as fast as I can._ " I refused to budge making him sigh and kneel down on the one leg I wasn't clinging to. He donned a lost expression, his hands hovering like he didn't know what to do with them. " _Honestly, Fune, I promise! I didn't realize that you'd be this worried today, I thought you'd be more worried the first time I did this. They're just dogs, my summons, they're not going to eat you_."

When I still didn't move an inch, he hesitantly extended a fist toward me with a pinky out stretched. " _Er, pinky swear? That's a thing, right?_ " I blinked in surprise. Kouki had taught me how this version of the pinky promise went but that didn't change the fact how strange it was to see my awkward guardian trying out for size too. Grinning, I stuck out my pinky and interlocked it with his.

With a smile of his own, he chanted, " _If I lie, I swear I'll swallow a thousand senbon and die..._ " Abruptly, he jerked his pinky away from mine before declaring, " _Ah, dammit, my finger was cut off by a kunai!_ "

I recoiled in surprise, exclaiming, "That's not how the song goes!"

Chi-chi laughed, as if knowing what I had said despite not understanding English. " _It's the ninja edition_ ," he told me, as if it explained everything. With another hair-mussing ruffle, he stood up, saying, " _It'll be fine, Fune-chan. I'll see you before you go to bed_." Giving a half-wave, he did that awesome teleporting trick that always seemed to leave leaves on the floor for some reason. Maybe he kept teleporting into trees by accident.

Served him right for messing with my hair and, more importantly, leaving me alone with a bunch of dogs, most of whom being twice my size and easily three times my weight. I don't care how well he trained them, it didn't change the fact that I could easily be bowled over and trampled if they got overexcited around me. The bulldog alone looked as though it could swallow me whole with just one snap of its jaws!

I clutched my head in panic, a breakdown eminent. "Oh my God, he left me alone with only dogs. Why did he do this? I thought he was more responsible than this; I thought I finally had a responsible parent for once! Why?! Does this mean I'm the responsible parent in this relationship?! I'm two! I'm supposed to be two!"

Then I heard I a low woof uttered behind me and woodenly turned around to see that the dogs were, indeed, still there. So, like any sane person, I stood there rim rod straight in the hopes that, just like bears, if I appeared harmless and unassuming enough, they would leave me be. Dogs were attracted to movement, right?

...Right?!

As long as I just stood still…

As long as I stood still…

As long as I was still…

Just be still…

A nervous sweat began to form and dribble down my back as the staring contest drew on longer. I shivered with the intense urge to flee, but knowing what would happen if I did, I somehow found it in me to remain froze in place. It wasn't so bad, I could totally stay this way until Chi-chi came back. Really. I could do it, if I was honestly that desperate enough, I sure I could just become a living statue.

The pug then remarked gruffly in what could probably pass for a Boston accent, which was _extremely_ strange to hear in Japanese, " _Hey, Pup, you alright there? You don't look so good._ "

I stared before screaming loudly, and sprinted away. Because if there was one thing I did not expect in any way, shape, or form it was magic talking animals. This was not supposed to be a Disney movie of all things, for Christ's sake!

* * *

(On a side note, I had been right about the dogs not pouncing to attack until they had seen movement. I was systematically chased down, tackled, and licked to death. Utterly traumatizing.)

* * *

Pakkun hadn't been entirely sure what to make of Kakashi's pup when he finally got a proper look at her after her father left. She seemed like the anxious, flighty sort, but that was probably because she might not had encountered dogs before, let alone ones this sizes. Cats, on the other hand... Well, despite how long the pup had been living here, nearly two months if he sniffed everything right, there was an unmistakable trace of panthers. It was faint and would likely fade away entirely in the next few weeks, especially with her being in the company of dogs, so it wasn't too big of a concern. But it would just figure that the pup would turn out to be a kit and prefer felines over canines.

Fortunately, the course of the rest of the day showed this to not be the case, once the human child got over her initial bashfulness. Actually, she took it upon herself to diligently pet every pack member, taking extra care with Pakkun and Bull's facial wrinkles. Her fingers had been surprisingly gentle and steady for someone her age, no uneven pressure anywhere. Pakkun would most certainly recommend her petting services if an opportunity to do so ever arose. Between the petting and going outside to enjoy the nice weather, nothing of note occurred. It was almost like a relaxing break watching the kid and not at all like the purgatory that he had been expecting at the mention of babysitting a toddler.

The little dog let out a yawn as he lay stretched out in the warm sunlight. The human-pup looked down at him from her perch on Bull, only to let out a small giggle. In retaliation, Pakkun flicked his tail as a covert signal to the much larger dog. Huffing with amusement, the massive canine abruptly took off, making the pup let out a startled shriek before whooping, carefully steering her ride with nudges of her feet. Shiba, Ūhei, and Akino gave chase, their much longer legs making it easier to keep up — not that Bisuke, Guruko, or Urushi were unable, just lazy or busy with other duties at the moment.

Speaking of which, Urushi's cold nose poked Pakkun in the side to get his attention so that patrol shifts could be exchanged. Letting out a groan, the pug stretched making his joints pop. Back to business until Kakashi got back from the emergency captain's meeting.

* * *

 **Day Sixty-three.**

* * *

Kakashi had attempted to coax Fune to go back to sleep after she woke up when he got out of the futon; his futon, to be exact. Somehow, the kid managed to sleep-crawl from her futon into his own... Which defeated the purpose of buying her one in the first place and nearly always ended up with him gaining a soggy soft on his pillow from the drool she generated. Not that he minded. On a baser level, it was nice cuddling with his little girl, and it made it easier to understand from Aoko's perspective why snuggling with those you love was a preferred activity.

Back to the matter at hand, though, she refused to return to bed. Well, more like found herself unable to sleep with any relative ease, and not just because of nightmares. He noticed a reoccurring trend involving the younger Hatake where she remain from anywhere of twenty to forty minutes just lying quietly in bed before sleep would finally claim her, regardless of how exhaust she was from a glaring lack of naps during the day. And then her penchant of startling awake at the slightest shift of movement, an environmental awareness worthy of any chūnin or seasoned genin. Which made attempts to sneak out to work in the middle of the night that much more difficult for the young Anbu captain (although, on a side note, her borderline paranoia making her able to detect him 'escaping', despite Kakashi making it his livelihood in being sneaky, would serve her well if she ever became a ninja... but, well, he wouldn't insist upon a lifestyle like that for her. Maybe something more tame, like being a healer as Pakkun did mention her having extremely steady hands and a focused concentration).

As it was, Fune sat on the edge of the futon, her eyes heavy with sleep and her head straining with the effort to keep it upright as Kakashi got dressed in his Anbu-uniform consisting of the usual black clothing, a grey flak jacket, metal arm guards, three ninja pouches, and long black ninja sandals. After a cursory glance, he spotted Fune sitting on his scarf — _his deuteranopia making the vibrant red color look more of an olive green_ — and, feeling a little playful, he coated his hand with sticking chakra and lifted her by the back of the shirt, easily snatching up the hand-knitted scarf with his other free hand before replacing her back to her seat.

Fune blinked at him in a dazed and vaguely accusing manner to which Kakashi smirked, ruffling her hair and making small static sparks bounce off the strands from the residual chakra leftover in said hand and the natural pent-up lightning aligned charka in Fune's hair. A large part of the reason that the Hatake clan's hair tended to be as untameably spiky as it was, was from their strong lightning natured affinity. Not even the specialized combs made to settle hair for ninja-born people with a genetic history of lightning or wind affinity could do much for the clan. Part of it was from their hair being so fine while the other part was that it caught static electricity so readily, making it a bit of a useless endeavor to try. The only benefit from the daily combing was ensuring there weren't any knots, so Kakashi didn't feel too bad in messing up the already chaotic and lawless hair trademark to the clan.

There came a patterned knock on the window, light as a feather, to announce Tenzō's presence. The eldest Hatake let out a muffled curse before bidding his friend to enter, returning to his preparations with greater gusto. He had packed the night before, but somehow, he had trouble in locating just where his wayward gear had disappeared to. Kakashi knew he had set his ninja weapons somewhere out of reach, but he couldn't remember for the life of him just which hidey-hole he stashed them in for the moment, forcing him to check each one.

" _Having trouble?_ " His kōhai asked with no little amount of amusement, causing the older teen to scowl in response.

" _I'm handling it just fine_ ," he grumbling before continuing a little louder, " _Mind holding Fune-chan for me? She's tired and unwilling to go back to sleep, but if someone holds her long enough, she'll fall asleep._ " And, although he couldn't see the face behind the wolverine mask, Kakashi had a hunch that Tenzō was more than happy to comply. The small smile he wore proved it too when the wood user took off said mask and the silver flak jacket he had been wearing, fresh from the Anbu headquarters it seemed. He likely just came back from a mission earlier in the day with just enough time to shower and take a nap in the barracks before coming over to the Hatake compound. Fune, herself, seemed content enough to raise her arms up to be held and then clutch at the black muscle shirt Tenzō wore after he picked her up, supporting her with one arm while his free hand soothingly carded through her hair.

Meanwhile, the physically eldest person in the room continued to finish preparations, locating his tanto hidden securely in the closet where, incidently, his other ninja weapons were also located. " _There's food in the fridge that I made earlier today that should last until I get back tomorrow night, but if there's a need for more, make some cold soba with the dipping sauce and noodles in the pantry. It's Fune's favorite and should suffice as an apology for her if I'm late. If something happens, another one of her sporadic panic attacks and normal reassurances don't seem to work, Mikoto-san offered to serve as an emergency contact this time around, since Yui's busy with a sick Kouki-kun. Fune-chan is normally low maintenance, so she shouldn't cause you too much trouble, but... Well... She is Aoko's child, so don't be too surprised if she gets into mischief._ "

" _'Mischief',_ " Tenzo echoed doubtfully. " _Isn't that normal for most children anyway? Testing the boundaries?_ "

" _I suppose so. I'm not exactly an expert on kids,_ " Kakashi replied dryly. " _I just know how Fune operates most days, and anything I don't know, I ask the actual mothers that I'm acquainted with._ "

" _It's a good thing you have so much support_ ," the younger teen noted. " _It would be that much harder to be a single parent otherwise._ "

Kakashi let out a long exhale. " _Tell me about it. Makes me respect what my father went through when I was younger that much more. He was a lot busier than I am, back when I was Fune's age and he was mine._ " Finished with his preparations, he went downstairs with his long-time partner close behind. "S _o, that should just about do it, I guess._ "

Turning, he gently ruffled Fune's hair, receiving a sleepy, " _Bye, Chi-chi_ ", in response. Once again, he counted his lucky stars for his porcelain dog mask, as it hid his magnificent blush quite nicely. Tenzō snickered and was spared from a withering glare the same way Kakashi had been able to hide his pleased flush. With a sign and a swirl of displaced leaves later, the sitter and the sittee were alone, one of them on the threshold of unconsciousness.

Cracking his neck — _the popping sounds echoing fantastically through the quiet hallway_ — the young Anbu agent wandered in one of the many living rooms and took residence on the couch, reclining comfortably with a (now sleeping) child on his chest. In a few moments, exhausted from a four-day-long solo mission spent with only a handful of hours spent resting (including the short two hour nap from earlier that evening), he joined Fune without much fanfare.

His only regret was not having a barrier between himself and Fune as his chest was entirely damp from all the drool. Somehow, Tenzō didn't find himself all that surprised, considering the state Kakashi's pillow had been in when the wood user had come in through the window.

He probably should have taken that subtle warning at face value.

* * *

 **Vocabulary:**

 **Chi-chi - a way of saying 'dad' or 'Papa' depending on the context used. If a little child is using it to address their father, they are using it in the sense of 'Papa', although it isn't in common use in that manner. Most of the time, it is used as "chichi-ue", a very formal and old fashioned manner of referring to one's father. This was something more common to hear in samurai families pre-Meiji period. Which is perfect as the Hatake decided from a samurai clan (see below) and the Naruto verse is in some ways a mixture of feudal and modern times in confusing ways;;;**

 **Ha-ha - same as chi-chi, but in reference to the mother.**

 **Apple rabbits - apple slices with the skin of the apple either cut or peeled away, except for one end where it's fashioned to look like bunny ears. Popular in bentos next to the octopus sausages.**

 **Deuteranopia - Red/Green color blindness, i.e. Dog Vision.** **Expanding on that, just like how Kakashi has heightened senses of hearing and smell, and longer cuspids, and longer/tougher/pointier nails; Kakashi has the human version of the eyesight. Here's some videos from Youtube with good examples of what he sees:**

/watch?v=6RuOt28orRI

/watch?v=-UNQxXfY2AI

 **And Fune also has that color blindness to an extent, but NOT NEARLY AS SEVERE. KAKASHI HAS AN EXTREME CASE. This is because he is a pure Hatake which is a summon clan. In this universe, the Hatake clan has had a long-standing contact with the Dog-summons since back when they were still a wandering samurai clan, because they encountered the dog summons outside of actually summoning them. They then later signed a contact. The Inuzuka did much the same but with wolf summons and even further back than that of the Hatake clan.**

 **So long ago, that the contact has long since been lost and the wolf summons have been separated into two clans, the ones that remain with the Inuzukas (the ninken branch) and the ones that remain in their natural realm with the wolf summons boss.**

 **...**

 **Anyway, Fune is not a full-blooded Hatake and with women, they don't have Red/Green color blindness as severe. Actually, most won't even have it manifest in them and are just carriers. So, she only has trouble when the shades are pretty close together in lightness or darkness.**


	6. Keep on Haunting Me

_'Cause I've done some things that I can't speak,  
And I've tried to wash you away but you just won't leave.  
So won't you take a breath and dive in deep,  
'Cause I came here so you'd come for me._

 _[…] I'm begging you to keep on haunting;  
I know you're gonna keep on haunting me._

-Haunting, Halsey (2015).

* * *

"Japanese, what everyone speaks, including the main character."

 _"Chinese, what our main character and others will very occasionally speak in this chapter."_

 ** _Pretty much, if it's in italics or this Language Key dictates otherwise, anything other than Japanese is in italics. Or emphasis._**

'Thoughts.'

* * *

 **Day Sixty-four.**

* * *

So, it seemed that I had the pleasure of Mr. Badger's company until further notice. I almost didn't recognize him at first, considering that, you know, _he wasn't wearing a mask_. But I recognized his voice and had the vague memory of him popping through the window. Not to mention that he was wearing parts of that superhero uniform and the rest were upstairs on the dresser, the badger mask included. To think that I had subconsciously recognized him somewhat from that party was actually a little funny.

I had thought that I wouldn't be seeing him again for long time, but I guess not. Perhaps it was because the superhero had taken a liking to me, just as I had to him.

It certainly seemed that way, considering that he seemed more involved in my sporadic activities, following me around and trying to engage me in different pastimes. I didn't mind overly much, as it kept things interesting not being mostly left to my own devices like I was when at Kouki's place. Not to mention, he had _superpowers_ and wasn't shy about using them either, even more so than Chi-chi. Seeing him casually start walking up the walls while completely horizontal was one trick that I had originally thought only my white-haired caretaker was capable of… As well as move at speeds that rivaled a car to jump up to the high branches of what could have easily been a sixty-foot pine tree, but I digress. Thinking back on it, Mr. Badger kind of had to be able to do that, so he could keep up with Chi-chi when they first brought me here.

I suppose that it just hadn't occurred to me because I had no reason to really think too critically about it until now. Right this moment. When Mr. Badger and I were at the top-most section of one of those aforementioned sixty-foot pines. I was having regrets about mentioning the stupid bird and teasing the other man about his age.

All I had wanted to know was the species of the bird, having never seen one of that particular shade before. It looked like a vibrant purple to me, pretty close to an almost lavender shade. "What that?" I had asked, gesturing towards the brightly colored songbird.

"'What's that'," Mr. Badger corrected absently before answering, "That's a bird, Fune-chan."

"What's that?" I already knew the names for several animals already, but, unfortunately, I didn't know the word for 'species' or even 'type'. So, I made do with what limited vocabulary I d _id_ have.

" _Bird_ , Fune-chan. Bird."

"What bird that?" I clarified with a kernel of annoyance. I understood that it was a bird, I just wanted to know what _kind_ of bird it was!

Realization finally, _finally_ entered in his expression and he answered somewhat sheepishly, "Blue bird."

I squinted at him before taking another look at the feathered creature. I didn't know the word for 'lavender', but I was _pretty_ sure that it wasn't the same one used for the color blue. "Purple bird," I tried instead. "What purple bird that?"

"It's a _blue bird_ , Fune-chan. It's literally called a _blue bird_ ," Mr. Badger chortled.

At this point, it was more to spite him than anything when I began to argue with the unmasked superhero about the color. I already realized that I was probably not going to get the answer I wanted out of him. So, back and forth we went, saying the words 'purple' and 'blue' before I finally snapped, "Purple bird, Ojii-san, it purple! No blue!"

Mr. Badger faltered at that, looking somewhat at a loss as he choked out, "But… But I'm not even all that old…?" Smug now, I took it as my victory and proceeded to continue walking in the small clearing. This time altering my course so it was aimed towards the tree housing the bird that caused all this trouble in the first place. I ignored my sitter's mutterings of, "Hatakes… I should have known that one thing he would have passed on would be his terrible eyesight…"

Really, it may had been petty and childish of me to essentially call him 'old man' instead of the more appropriate 'ji-san' or 'nii-san', but I didn't much care at this point. It had also been pretty foolish for me to just blatantly disregard and ignore a superhero that I _basically_ just insulted, because that merely left me as an open target for retaliation. It really shouldn't have come as much of a surprise as it did when Mr. Badger swept me up from behind at high speeds and bounded up the branches of the tree to get near the top of it.

But I honestly wasn't the most sensible of people, so there was that.

* * *

One of the first things Tenzō noticed after their misadventure in the old Hatake training grounds, was that Fune didn't have much in the way of toys. There wasn't a lack of anything else like clothes or coloring supplies and such. She even had several learning and picture books. It was just that all her actual play toys were the ones she had gotten from the party. Which… Honestly didn't leave the Anbu agent all that impressed with Kakashi. If you have a child, how could you not buy them toys?

What he didn't know was that Kakashi was well aware of the lack of toys. That he had tried to rectify that on many an occasion by bringing Fune to different stores that sold them, each time coming out with books instead. He had eventually given it up as a lost cause at this point, as Fune didn't have much of an interest in said toys, always doing something else to occupy herself. If she had shown any interest, there was no question that the elder Hatake would have gotten whatever had caught her attention.

Kakashi would be willing to buy half a store for her, having the means to do so considering how frugal he has always been with his money. But he didn't, because what would be the point? Fune didn't care for things such as that, had given not even the slightest indication at all that she did. She would rather go for books and colors and paper, so Kakashi would buy her plenty of those, but that was about it. Beyond those paper products, he didn't know what else to get her.

(There were always the ninja-oriented toys, but those were certainly out of the question. The only exception being when visiting with her friend, Kouki, because there really was no helping that. Not to mention, at least Anko had gotten her the rubber kunai and shuriken…)

But as it stood, Tenzō was unaware this, so he took it upon himself to rectify this 'problem', which made another one arise:

What did girls even like for toys?

'Dolls… They — They like dolls…' He hesitantly decided. 'Right?' He could do that, maybe… hopefully. He really hoped that it wouldn't end up like his last attempt at making something vaguely humanoid. It went unsaid that it had been an irredeemable failure that time, but maybe _this_ time it wouldn't be nearly so bad? He would start out easy, though, dollhouses were pretty straight forward things. Being outside, there was plenty of room to do what he liked and be a smidgen more ostentatious about his jutsu.

Fune, meanwhile, could only stare uncomprehendingly as large tentacles of wood sprouted out from the ground, weaving and twisting into each other to form… a little playhouse? It was mostly wood but the roof and siding had living greenery on it. Little wildflowers decorating the top amongst what was probably a type of moss and vines clung to the sides and let little purple morning glories sprout merrily, giving dashes of color to the otherwise neutrally toned structure. After receiving an encouraging smile from the brunet, the not-toddler cautiously approached the small building that pretty much just appeared from out of _nowhere in particular_.

Still, unsettling abrupt appearance or not, she had to admit that had been a pretty cool display of a superpower. Not to mention, if Mr. Badger ever wanted to retire from fighting crime, he could always take up a job as a groundskeeper with gardening skills like that.

'Or possibly an outdoor furniture-maker,' she amended, taking in the inside of the playhouse and its nearly perfect proportions for someone of her size. There was even a little table with three tiny chairs. 'Oh, God, that's adorable.' And impressive. Like, seriously, did he only just need to eyeball how tall she was and go from there? Serious ninja skills for a superhero.

Turning back to face the somewhat apprehensive teen, she put any worries he had at ease with a grin and a double thumbs up. "Awesome! Good, very good!" She babbled, trying to remember any and every words of praise that she knew of in that language. " _Extreme! Youthful! Hip and cool!_ "

Tenzō choked on laughter, just _imagining_ the look on his senpai's face had he been present to hear that, before thanking his charge for her heartening — _as much as she was able to_ — words. Feeling little better about his fine control over the jutsu, and realizing that a toddler wasn't likely to critique him too harshly over the resulting product, the Anbu agent took a stab at making a pair of dolls. Dolls that ended up being his best try yet, despite looking a bit on the blobby end of the spectrum.

Said lopsided wooden dolls were very similar to manikins, having entirely moveable joints with living vines for attachments. Which, again, _magic superpowers_. Forget climbing up walls like Spiderman and leaping over buildings with a single bound like Superman, Fune would much rather having this Groot-like ability to grow living plants from practically thin air. It was ludicrously adaptable and amazing.

Hmm, she did quite like the sound of that…

" _Mr. Groot-Badger_ ," the youngest Hatake murmured out loud in an almost scarily-contemplative sort of voice as she gazed in Tenzō's direction.

He wasn't quite sure if he should be alarmed or not, especially since it was almost dark sounding. The same sort of dark that Senpai would get when a particularly _nasty_ idea popped into his mind, one that was almost but not quite mean-spirited in nature before he messed with a fellow ninja. Not always, but usually Ngai. What was even more alarming was the idea that Kakashi had, had the opportunity to use that tone of voice when Fune was near him to witness it and was now in the situation where she would use it herself.

Especially when she turned to look at _him_ when doing it.

It was bad enough when she called him 'Ojii-san', because of the resulting mortification when he realized that, _no_ , she actually did mean to essentially call him 'old man' and not 'uncle' was really very embarrassing. And any attempts to persuade her to use 'Oji-san' only drove her more firmly in her usage of the former. Leaving him to wonder if it was more just to annoy and tease him at this point than anything else. 'Mischievous, indeed.'

And now this? Well, Tenzō felt that he was justified in feeling wary.

But he needn't have worried too overly much, as all Fune did was politely ask him to help personalize the dolls in her limited way of speaking. She seemed slightly disappointed when he didn't use a jutsu to help him with the facial shapes but was quick to perk up when he brought out a kunai was began to whittle them out instead with steady, experienced hands. Never had Tenzō been so thankful for the long quiet hours spent waiting while on the job with nothing but his weapons on hand and a small chunk of wood that he would occasionally bring along with him.

After he finished carving out the facial features and created more wood on the head to carve out hair, Fune insisted that she would color the faces, to which Tenzō responded that they would need to get paint for that. That had ended up being an adventure in and of itself, after the not-toddler had carefully stored the dolls away safely inside the playhouse.

Fune had taken it upon herself to choose out all the paint, having firmly in her mind the vision of how both she and her sister had once looked like before all of… this… had happened. She was careful to get small canisters of paint in blue for the eyes and black for the outlines. A tan color for skin, white for her hair, and, after spending much more time searching for red paint than she would like to admit, a dark blood red for her sister's hair.

(Tenzō was quietly impressed with the not-toddler's restraint in how much paint she selected.)

The woman-turned-girl had also tried to carry it all home by herself, but that was one thing that she quickly realized wasn't going to work out for her very well. After several long minutes of stubbornly dragging the canisters down the road, Fune reluctantly handed them over to her sitter. The five cans of paint were swiftly clipped to his belt and his charge secured firmly on his back before, with all the grace and speed his occupation required, the two of them took the ninja-highway back to the Hatake estate; Fune shrieking with laughter the whole way.

The pair of dolls were removed from their places at the table in quick order and placed outside of the playhouse so as to properly dry. The first layer of paint was the 'skin' of the dolls in a light tan color and then the hair in the dolls' respective colors. While the two of them waited for that to dry, they enjoyed a light lunch of salmon onigiri that they prepared themselves and some pickled vegetables that had been set aside in the fridge before returning to the task of painting the dolls.

Not wanting to mess up the eyes, Fune had first lightly drew in pencil to ensure she did it correctly before outlining the pencil in black paint. She then painted both pairs of eyes blue; her sister's eyes being a tad darker after she mixed a small amount of black with the blue paint. A picture firmly in her mind of a kind face, a beaming smile, a thick mane of curly burgundy red hair, and eyes so dark blue that if you stare at them too long you get sucked in. She understood very well that the doll in front of her was a sad mimicry of the real thing and had to do some mental juggling so as not to dwell on dark thoughts lest she start crying then and there.

At this point now, all that had need to be done were the mouths and eyebrows which were completed in short order, before the not-toddler went inside to find some extra clothes. Ones that didn't fit her anymore now that she was finally gaining weight like she should and could be freely used as clothes for her dolls. She may not have been much for playing with toys, but she certainly wasn't an ungrateful brat and could appreciate the gesture for what it was. And right now, she just needed an excuse to catch her breath in private so as to collect herself.

Fune knew that suppressing her emotions was not in any way, shape, or form healthy. But old habits were hard to stop and she had always been a bit of a coward at heart when it came to matters like this. Avoidance was something she could do and do well, planning on holding off thinking too deeply or critically for ' _just a little while longer_ '…

Because, out of the two of them, she had always been the weakest. Case in point, being how attached she was to Chi-chi. She had, in essence, made him her world, which implied a rather unhealthy amount of dependence on him used as a crutch to compensate for what she had lost. Playing the part of a child? A diversion from an imminent breakdown that would make her episodes from the nightmares look like mere hissy fits.

With her bottling up her emotions and grief like that, it would only be a matter of time before she exploded… Which is why she indulged in so many childish and selfish whims, because it helped release some of that pressure and beg off the inevitable eruption.

Like what she was doing right now with the left over paint.

Admittedly, originally, she was going to paint on the wall behind the couch because reasons… Said reasons being that a little chaos never hurt anyone and her sitter was asleep on the job, so she was morally obligated as a toddler to get into things. And she was curious to see just how she could press the boundaries by actually doing something particularly naughty. But thinking it over more critically had made her realize that in the long run, it would probably not be worth it to do something that might just end up being permanent. Pranks that are harmless don't have long reaching or long lasting results.

So, she went with the next best option: paint on Mr. Badger's face.

(She had the sneaking suspicion that he was, at least, partially conscious throughout the whole thing, and probably knew exactly what was going on, but Fune wasn't going to let such a small detail like that stop her.)

She started out with the classic mustache and glasses combo before adding a goatee to the mix. It looked pretty good, but it didn't seem like it was enough. So after some consideration, the woman-turned-girl painted on some cat ears a little above each temple, cat whiskers on each cheek, and a little inverse black triangle on the nose… Then she noticed the headband with the starting-to-become-iconic snail symbol on it and impulsively filled in the grooves with black paint, making said snail stand out starkly. She was rather proud of herself because she didn't even smear any of it once.

(Fune didn't know this now, but the Konoha insignia would forever stand out in such a way where everyone's eyes would be drawn to it first before anything else on his person. He had, thenceforth, been inadvertently labeled as one of those pro-Konohagakure enthusiasts and entirely unable to do anything about it.)

When Tenzō 'awoke', he didn't know whether to be amused or impressed at her handy work when he got a good look in the mirror. Fune had an amazing talent for drawing for someone her age. Tenzō supposed that this was probably passed down from Aoko and that one of the many ways she had entertained the little girl was by giving her plenty of supplies and time to draw. Too bad Fune hadn't felt so inclined to display this unexpected talent on his face. The wood user eventually decided to keep it on and show Senpai later.

Kakashi hadn't failed to impress both parties with his reaction, even _with_ the mask on.

* * *

 **Day Seventy-eight.**

* * *

Besides Kouki and his mother — _Auntie Yu_ — Fune was mostly baby-sat by Anbu. Usually Wolverine, whom she knew as 'Mr. Badger' and 'Oji-san', having finally decided to play nice and stop calling him 'old man'. However, there were obviously days where he couldn't stay the whole time or watch her at all. In which case, there were various replacements, most notably 'Tanuki', who was normally a part of the Hokage's personal guard. Tanuki was also one of the few whom Fune actually knew the assigned animal name for the mask.

Although, the woman-turned-girl had still argued with herself for the next few hours after if 'Tanuki' meant 'panda' or 'raccoon'… until she realized that the panda was a part of the raccoon family so the point was moot anyway.

There wasn't much that she physically knew about Tanuki — _considering the Anbu agent never took the mask off_ — other than female, mocha-colored complexion, mid-back mane of curly brown hair, some serious muscles, and a tenor voice. Personality, on the other hand, was much easier to figure out. A mostly reserved individual, overly polite, and very traditionalist. Also, had a dry sense of humor that was very subtle; where if you weren't paying close enough attention, it was likely to go over your head. Overall impression of Tanuki was a kind, if distant, caretaker with the patience of a saint. Which, she had to be to teach Fune anything, considering that the woman-turned-girl still wasn't entirely fluent in the common language, what she figured to be something like Chinese, probably.

(It was strange trying to learn two languages at once, and sometimes very frustrating and confusing. But thankfully it was easy to separate when the two were used. If it was family friends like Auntie Ko or Auntie Yu or Kouki or Chi-chi, she used Japanese with it's simple combination of constants. If it was the Anbu or strangers, they used Chinese, with it's different cadence and dictation. Thankfully, somethings, however, didn't really need too many words, such as making a decent pot of tea or origami, just a sort of do-as-I-do teaching method. And she was physically two. People weren't going to be too critical of her for the most part quite yet.)

Then, there was also Mr. Bat, Spider, Cobra, Ms. Sparrow, and Ms. Doe as well as multiple other Anbu characters that she hadn't seen a reappearance of.

Between all these various sitters, Fune rather missed Kakashi; going anywhere from a day to a week or more without seeing him with only a few days to sometimes a week in between each job he did. The first day always being spent sleeping and recovering while the others were spent training and preparing for the next job. There wasn't much Fune could really do beyond cling to him like a limpet and blab to him about everything he missed while he was gone as much as her steadily growing, but still limited, vocabulary allowed her. Sometimes she helped with training, serving as an extra weight when he was doing something relatively low-key like pushups.

There really wasn't as much time to bond or spend with him as she would have hoped since he had gone back to work aside from that one time where he had to take off work for two weeks because of an injury. Frankly speaking, though, Kakashi had mostly certainly needed the break to unwind somewhat and was able to at least get a head start on fostering his daughter's budding tracking potential.

Bringing out the Training Kit, he made sure to start with the strongest smelling herbs and spices, like rosemary and peppermint, and would allow her to have a decent sniff of the particular scent before placing it in the box. The box was a one meter by one meter container with several empty slots inside of it and little slits on the cover to let each scent waft through. Without Fune seeing, he would place the target scent into one of the slots and direct her to 'find it'. Every time she managed to locate it in under two minutes, he'd ruffle her hair with a word of praise and offer a konpeitō, her favorite sweet.

The first time he did this, she had given him a bemused look before huffing, as if affronted, and stuffing the treat into her mouth in an ornery manner. By now, eighteen days later, there was already a sizable improvement, being able to sniff out a level two scent (such as freshly overturned dirt, a pretty distinctive scent when by itself but easy to miss when covered by stronger ones) in under a minute. And she was used to his training methods, almost imperiously putting out her hand before he could he offer her the sweet, but there was a twinkle in her eyes and a slight curve to her lips that told him she was treating this as a game more than anything else. Which was exactly the point of the exercise, make the training fun and appealing to keep her attention and interest long enough to learn the lessons he had to teach.

Eventually — _within the month, going by the pace she was setting now_ — he expected to move on to actual trailing in the inner garden, starting once more with a level one before working their way down. It wasn't much that he could offer as an apology to make up for all the time spent on missions, but it didn't stop him from trying to include her in as much of her heritage as a Hatake that he could that was still not completely shinobi in origin. That were things that his own father had taught him when he was her age. Actually, he would have considered getting her a dog of her own, like Sakumo had for him, if things were a bit more stable than they were, but he would put it off for a little while longer.

Let her grow up a little more before he tested her maturity by giving her the responsibility of another living thing's life.

* * *

 **Day Eighty-seven.**

* * *

"Auntie Ko!" Fune squealed before burying her face in the physically older woman's skirts.

"Ah, hello, Fune-chan, Kakashi," she greeted warmly, purple clan marks crinkling as she smiled at the two of them before accepting the black backpack that the elder Hatake handed over.

"Thank you for doing this, Rin," Kakashi sighed. "I feel bad for relying on you and Yui so heavily, but I really don't trust anyone else for long term babysitting."

"It's no trouble," his teammate insisted. "We're family, ne? Plus, why wouldn't I like to spend time with my cute little niece? Not to mention, I'm the most stable option out of your choices. I'm not going anywhere."

Kakashi huffed out a laugh before giving an agreeable nod, mood lightened enough to tease, "Well, you're not wrong there, Kozō-chan."

"Does it never end? You know that nickname is about as accurate as calling you a hentai-fiend." The older teen hurriedly shushed her with a strangled 'not in front of my daughter!' and melodramatically covered the not-toddler's ears as he fought back a smirk of amusement. Fune gave her oba-chan a long-suffering look and kunoichi snickered. "See? I'm just supremely stealthy as you are an adult-romance reader. It's off just enough to be almost offensive — _and just what do you think you're doing?_ " Run snapped, the latter part of her statement in harsh Chinese, formal and stiff.

The eldest Hatake froze mid-action of pulling out his wallet under his teammates suddenly hard-stare. " _This is for watching…_ " His voice petered out into an awkward and unsure pause as he took in the look Rin gave him that all but screamed out just _where_ he could take his money and shove it. A stare-down ensued between the both of them, leaving Fune to alternate in glancing at either adult in the clash of wills.

Eventually, reluctantly, Kakashi stored his wallet away with grumble and Rin nodded in satisfaction. He had recognized that she would see it as a slight, however small, against her capabilities as a caretaker. It hadn't been his intention, which she had understood, as that was just how Kakashi was, never one to leave a debt or favor unpaid if he could help it. But even so, she saw that they would have to come to an agreement, since this wasn't a business transaction but a family matter.

"Bye-bye, Chi-chi," Fune cooed out quite abruptly, defusing whatever tenseness that had been accumulating between them all. "See you soon?"

"I'll try, but it might take me a week. Tough job," the teen warned her as he made sure to enunciate his words clearly.

The woman-turned-child rolled the words around in her mind, translating the meaning, and then nodded, "Big mission, long time," she agreed, mustering an almost sage-like air about her. Almost, but not quite. Her childish appearance and voice ruined whatever effect she had been attempting to mimic, forcing the other two to hurriedly suppress their laughter to let her save face.

(By Fune's miniscule wince, they hadn't exactly managed to do so quickly enough.)

After giving his daughter a final pat on the head and once more thanking Rin for her generosity on such short notice, Kakashi disappeared in a flurry of leaves, leaving the pair to their own devices.

Waving the smaller girl into the house, the three-tailed jinchūriki closed the door of the modest apartment behind them and set about packing away everything in the backpack sans the few toys within. As she did so, Rin couldn't help but notice that there was something rather… lacking in the small sample of Fune's wardrobe. It wasn't glaringly obvious, but if one was paying enough attention, it certainly would catch their eye.

In case she was wrong, the physically older woman waited for Fune to pause in her recounting of what mischief she and her friend, Kouki, had gotten into the other day before asking, "Fune-chan, is this all you have?"

Set off-kilter by the seemingly non-sequitur, the not-toddler asked, "What you mean?"

"Weeell," the teen stalled, "Do you have any dresses or skirts? Shirts with pastel, ah, I mean, light colors?" It was entirely possible that none had been packed for the seven-or-so-day stay, but unlikely. Because Rin knew that it was just as possible for Kakashi to not have gotten his daughter anything feminine either. Whether it was because Kakashi didn't know what little girls usually wanted to wear or because Fune didn't want to wear them remained to be seen.

"No." Rin grimaced at the perplexed expression on the not-toddler's face and flat answer. As if realizing her mistake, the youngest Hatake added, "Don't have any. It's okay. Maybe later."

Well, that certainly wouldn't do, and the kunoichi would be _more than happy_ to do the honors of going out shopping for cute clothes for an even cuter niece. "How about now?" She offered before standing up and brushing off her pants. "A day on which a decision is made is the best time to do it!"

"Eh?" Fune asked, scrunching her face up in confusion.

"That just means that we should do it now," the brunette explained patiently to her charge before leading her back to the entryway where the both of them stuffed on their sandals. "It's an old piece of wisdom people say."

" _An idiom_?" Fune wondered out loud to herself in English, " _Must be the same as 'no time like the present' or something._ " She was still a bit unsure as to what was happening exactly, but she shrugged as she follow her 'aunt' outside.

It truly was a nice day. Fune wasn't sure of the year or month anymore, but felt like an early summer to her, temperature remaining steady at what had to be the upper sixties. It was partially cloudy with a slight breeze, and it seemed that everyone was out and about today, enjoying the nice weather. Especially in the market place. Business was booming, the stalls alive with customers and sellers hawking their wares. Superheroes were racing and bounding across rooftops; some of them kids who were probably still in middle school, if not in primary anymore.

Rin maneuvered through the crowd with enviable ease, her hand coated in chakra to ensure an immovable but gentle grip on the tiny not-toddler. This, Fune didn't mind too awfully much, despite not having much of a view, what, being at about knee-height and all. Finding a store that she had been keeping an eye out for, the teen brought her pseudo-niece inside hastily in the hopes to escape the worst of the crowd.

Inside the establishment, it was a bit better, the amount of people around them having significantly thinned out from 'chock-full' to merely 'bustling'. Satisfied by this, the brunette chirped, "this way, Fune-chan", as she lead her shopping companion towards the left-side of the store to where the more overtly feminine wear was held. And the moment she saw the most adorable outfits for little girls, Fune knew that she was going to get along just fine with 'Auntie Ko'.

The two of them spent maybe a little more time than what was strictly necessary in trying on various outfits of all shades and styles, only to pick out a four things in the end — _three dresses and one lavender skort_. It was more than what Fune had owned to start with, and it wasn't as if she needed to create a whole new wardrobe for herself. But still, there was something to be said about how satisfying it was to wear a colorful yellow dress, when all she had been wearing for the past three months were dark neutral t-shirts and shorts combos.

It was a bit unfortunate about how she was unable to show it off around town the next day because of heavy rain, but her sitter was quick in ensuring that Fune wouldn't sulk over the missed opportunity (not that she ever would; though she may not look like it, she _was_ an adult!).

So, stuck inside the apartment for the foreseeable future — _or at least until the rain died down in its intensity_ — Rin thought it best to broaden Fune's vocabulary, teaching her parts of the human body. Kakashi's daughter was a delightfully attentive student for someone as young as she was, sometimes even asking somewhat 'advanced' questions, drawing a (shockingly good) doodle of a bone/heart/organ/etc and asking what it was called.

One thing led to another and soon the kunoichi was gazing down at a picture that depicting what she guessed to be a glowing hand. "Oji-san make wood, _fooooop_ , to little house with that. What is that?"

"Well, that sounds like chakra," Rin hedged. "He must have used a jitsu."

"Jit-sue?"

"Ah, no, chakra," came the hesitant correction. She felt that explaining how the life force of the world could be manipulated with practice and will to do fantastical and almost magical feats to a toddler would be more complicated than what was strictly necessary with how little she could understand. For now, it was best to keep with the basics, and what better way to do that than by demonstrating?

Teaching Fune how to access her own chakra — _because undoubtedly the curious child would want to learn_ — would easily eat up several hours before the white-haired girl would be able to detect the flickering flame within, especially if she wasn't particularly sensitive to it. Although, Rin had her doubts about that being the case, if one were to take into account the sheer density of the famed 'white chakra of the Hatakes'.

Normally, blue in color for most of the population, there were very few instances to when it would change its shade. The most commonly witnessed variation from the norm would be the green of medical chakra. White chakra, the genetic mutation hereditary to that ninja clan, was made possible by it being so utterly thick and lightning inclined that it gave the appearance of white fire, like a lightning bolt.

It would be interesting to see how Fune's would manifest.

Drawing her chakra to her hands, she let it passively rest there in her palms, emitting a soft blue-ish green glow, as Rin hadn't bothered to perfect blend and purify her physical and mental aspects. "This is chakra. Everyone has some inside of them. It's what keeps us alive."

"Ooh," Fune gasped in delight. "Can I have, please?"

"'May I touch, please'," came the gentle correction, "And, yes, you may. Give me your hands."

Fune clasped her hands with Rin's and marveled over the fact that they weren't burnt from the 'green fire'. Even though it gave off a heat, even though it appeared tangible, Fune could almost believe that it was merely a figment of her imagination. Chakra was reminiscent of wearing rubber gloves before immersing them in hot water: warm and… smothering? Something shifted in her stomach, and the woman-turned-girl felt as something in her gut turned sour, like a heavy and uncomfortably hot lump.

She only had about five seconds to rip her hands away and run over to the trash can before violently throwing up.

Startled but entirely unsurprised by this, Rin sighed, "Takes after her mother more than I thought."

And it was true, Aoko had been very sensitive to invasive non-medical chakra, to the point where she had a medical alert on her file that had explicitly stated that she be given non-Yamanaka psych-evals. To the point where her main practicing doctor had been a _Hyūga_ back when she was still alive, because their chakra was just about a balanced and clean as one could get. Rather than let it be a hindrance, Aoko had used this sensitivity to help her sleuth out genjutsu and eventually created her own unique branch of the craft. One that had proven to be quite lethal on its own a number of times.

A kinjutsu that was as hard to shake as one could get, something about not fooling the senses but the mind itself? No one in the S.A.I.I — _Scientific Analysis & Innovative Investigations _— Division could quite figure out what she meant by that, for wasn't it one and the same? To fool the senses, you must fool the mind through them: a circular logic without much explanation. It left a heavy aftertaste of dissatisfaction behind, but the riddle couldn't be solved and Aoko had been unable to provide a more comprehensible description.

It would take an unlikely strike of good fortune for Fune to have inherited such a talent. Though since she definitely had the sensitivity there was a higher chance, it might do some good to expose her to basic genjutsu concepts when she got a little older.

Setting those thoughts aside when Fune's gagging stopped, Rin went to fetch the child some water; the taste couldn't be pleasant and it served as a reminder to the med-nin that things would need to be taken slowly.

 _Baby steps for now_ , she told herself. _There's no hurry for her to grow into that life yet._

* * *

 **Day Ninety-eight.**

* * *

Shizuya Hikawa blinked lazily before moving her black hair out of her vision, eyelids heavy from lack of sleep, having spent way too much time last night up reading a book about the various ways ninja wire could be utilized efficiently. She yawned; it was way too early to be up after such a late night or to deal with a high-maintenance ninja family (which, admittedly, pretty self-sufficient in consideration to other peers and family).

"Ah, Shicchan," a blonde greeted blandly, muted grey eyes giving a slow blink before the owner unleashed a yawn herself. "C-ahhh-ver your mouth next time, would you? That's contagious."

"Sorry," she apologized insincerely, black eyes narrowing in challenge. " _Maybe_ I will, if you stop calling me that."

"Probably not," her teammate disagreed. "And in any case, Shicchan is Shicchan. It's just the way things are, just like Sensei and his horrendous sense of humor."

Shizuya made a face, "Gross, Michi. I hate the nickname even more now that it's associating at the same level of those God-awful jokes."

There was a pause. Then Michi Hayashi retorted, "Just think, it could be worse, _Shicchi_."

"Oh, God, it's evolving!"

"Ah, wh-what is?" A humble voice interjected, an unfortunately short boy joining the two, nervously eying them and bracing himself for the worst case scenario. "You're not talking about that weird mold again are you? I mean, I thought you said you 'took care of it for good'."

The noirette tensed before whirling to face him, gripping the lapels of his shirt and bodily hauling him up, shaking him slightly in alarm, "I did! What, did someone tell you different? Did you see something? Did it _come back_?!"

"N-No, I was just asking what you meant by something _evolving_!" Naoki Hamasaki yelped. "P-Please put me down, Shizuya."

"Careful, or you'll strangle Nao-chan and we'll have to find a new one," a voice mused teasingly, announcing the abrupt presence of the nearing-middle-aged Jōnin. His students were startled, but managed to hide their surprise thanks to countless spooks he had given them as part of their training (the penalty had been an extra hour in Training Ground Forty-Four for every tell of them being caught off-guard… They had accrued enough hours to add up to nearly three months of visiting time there before they were able to condition themselves to not react in a way that would leave them vulnerable).

"That gets less and less funny every time you say that, Yorisou-sensei," Shizuya groaned. "Please, for our last mission as a team, could you not…?"

The Jōnin instructor made a dismissive gesture, but his expression was that of sentiment. "I suppose. Just this once." He smiled softly, brown eyes almost damp looking, as if misty from tears. The three teenagers pretended not to notice. "You make such fine Chūnin. Even if we're not an official team after this, we will still see each other and can always depend on one another. It's important to remember that."

"Yes, Sensei," the trio chorused.

"Good, now should we get that scroll? A nice C-rank would do, I think. Maybe we'll even get to go on a trip outside the village," Yorisou mused, beginning to amble inside main building adjacent to the Hokage tower where the mission's office was located.

Shizuya moved on ahead, flanked by Naoki and Michi. Even though they still squabbled and bantered like Genin, they were mature ninja now. A lot of the behavior was out of habit and the security they felt around each other. A lot of it was also just them still being kids, even trained assassins could act childish sometimes.

The Chūnin manning the desk took one look at them before immediately picking out a mission scroll to give them before they could even begin to ask for what they were locating for. At Yorisou's frown, she shrugged before sheepishly explaining in Chinese, " _Sorry, but your group is the first I've seen to fit the requirements all day and it's time sensitive so…_ "

" _Fair enough_ ," he allowed. " _Rank?_ "

" _Not enough for a B, but it's a bit more than your regular C. It's babysitting a minor-clan child who's in a political tight spot at the moment_."

The team exchanged glances, the teacher remaining silent to let his student decide among themselves whether or not to take it. Not that there wasn't much of a choice, but the illusion of there being one was nice. Eventually, they accepted the mission and got out of the way to look over the details inside the scroll in peace, the three teens huddled around it while Yorisou read over their shoulders. His eyebrow twitched.

"Where the hell did _that_ come from?!" He hissed in shock upon seeing the name of their young client, mind going into a tail-spin. It was the last thing he could have ever expected; never in a thousand years would he have thought this would happen. He barely heard Michi shooting off a cheeky answer.

"That came from the missions' office, Yorisou-sensei, just moment ago. We are in Konohagakure. We are your one and only Genin team. You are safe."

"For now," Shizuya muttered in the vaguely-ominous way she tended to do. "What's the matter, Sensei?"

"…It's nothing. I just recognized the last name and it surprised me. I never thought my old, ah, work partner would have a kid. He was just the last person to come to mind when I think of a parent."

Naoki squinted at the name again, "...Hatake..? Never heard of this clan."

"You wouldn't, because up until recently, there had only been one surviving member left. In any case, it would be rude to keep them waiting, let's go."

* * *

 **A/N: Yes, yes, I know, an obscenely short addition to the chapter after such a long time between updates; it's practically criminal. But it's just a show of good faith that I'm not, in fact, dead and have no intentions to abandon the story... I have just had many (critically important) life-changing events happen at the tail-end of 2016, big enough that I had neither the time or motivation to write.**

 **But I'm not dead, and neither is the story.**

 **I can't promise an exact time frame (you saw what happened last time I tried that;;;) but more stuff will be coming your way... Eventually;;;**

 **So, please, bare with me a little longer. Your patience and understanding mean more than you could ever believe!**

 **(also sorry about the false notification earlier, something went a little screwy;;)**

 **Happy New Year,**

 **Stars.**

* * *

 **A/N 2: So I just finished a major rewrite! Lots of little details and ambiances have changed and hopefully for the better! Don't know when the next chapter will come out yet, but I'm aiming for the US Thanksgiving, but definitely before the end of the year. I'll explain a bit more in then.**

 **In any case, peace out.**


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